Air New Zealand flight NZ5077 flew as far south as Mt Taranaki before turning back to Auckland. Photo / Flightradar24
Air New Zealand flight NZ5077 flew as far south as Mt Taranaki before turning back to Auckland. Photo / Flightradar24
Emergency services were on standby at Auckland Airport this afternoon for an Air New Zealand flight with reported issues.
The airport confirmed to the Herald that emergency services were on standby at about 3.20pm for an outbound aircraft, while Air New Zealand’s chief safety and risk officer Nathan McGraw saidan engineering issue was identified in flight.
Flight NZ5077 was scheduled to fly to Nelson, but had reported “issues”, Auckland Airport said.
Flightradar24 showed the plane flying as far south as Mt Taranaki before turning round and heading back to its starting point.
“The aircraft has landed safely and our maintenance team will now inspect the aircraft before it is returned to service,” McGraw said.
“In line with standard operating procedures, emergency services attended as a precaution.
“We regret the inconvenience this has caused our customers travelling to Nelson this afternoon and we are working to get them to their destination as quickly as possible.
“We thank them for their patience and understanding.”
Flight ANZ946 left Auckland Airport at 9.02am yesterday morning and was scheduled to land at about 12.30pm NZT.
However, the aircraft turned around near Avarua because it faced poor landing conditions due to “adverse weather” on the ground, according to Air New Zealand’s chief operating officer Alex Marren.
Air New Zealand flight ANZ946 was forced to turn back to Auckland due to poor landing conditions in Rarotonga. Photo / Flight Aware
The flight landed back in Auckland at 4.50pm and an additional flight had been scheduled for affected passengers.
“We know this is disappointing for our customers, and our teams are working hard to get everyone to their destinations as soon as possible,” Marren said.
