Tongan flight ends in two-day ordeal

By AINSLEY THOMSON

A three-hour flight from Auckland to Tonga turned into a two-day nightmare for 155 passengers.

A series of mishaps meant that after spending about eight hours in the air, the passengers on the Air New Zealand 767 ended up back in Auckland.

The flight left Auckland at 7.15 on Saturday morning and should have arrived in Tonga at 10.15, but heavy showers and low cloud meant the plane had trouble landing.

After two attempts had been aborted, the decision was made to fly to Apia in Samoa to refuel, before flying back to Tonga.

The first fuel truck's filling mechanism broke, and a second truck broke down in front of the plane.

Civil aviation regulations dictate that for safety reasons flight crew can spend only a certain time on duty before they must take a break.

The refuelling delay meant the flight crew could not fly back to Tonga and return to New Zealand without having to take the mandatory break.

Added to this is the technicality that the Kingdom of Tonga does not allow aircraft to fly on a Sunday.

If the staff flew into Tonga and took the mandatory break it would have been Sunday by the time the break was over. The plane would then have been stranded in Tonga until Monday.

Air NZ spokesman Mark Champion said if the plane had stayed in Tonga until Monday about 2000 passengers would have been affected, as the aircraft was meant to make three trips during that period.

It was decided to fly the plane back to Auckland without stopping in Tonga, he said.

This meant only 150 passengers were affected.

The passengers on the flight were put up in an Auckland hotel before finally flying to Tonga early on Monday morning.

Mr Champion said the aircraft was not the one delayed by a stowaway lizard on Sunday.

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