Air New Zealand passengers in five-hour ordeal as Dunedin flight turns back to Auckland

Back we go: Passengers on NZ671 spent almost five hours on an abortive flight to Dunedin. Photo / Sophea, Aviation_New_Zealand, TikTok; Mark Mitchell

Auckland passengers expecting a short hop to Dunedin yesterday ended up trapped on a four-and-a-half-hour service to nowhere.

NZ671 departed Auckland at 7.30am for Otago but it was back in Auckland just after midday.

It would have been faster to fly to Australia, one plane spotter remarked.

Having spent almost an hour and a half in holding patterns over Oamaru, it made a failed landing attempt at 10.30 am. The pilots had no option but to head back to Auckland.

“Air New Zealand flight NZ671 Auckland to Dunedin has just landed back at Auckland Airport after 4 hours and 30 minutes in the air!” said Wellington-based aviation fanatic Sophean Ngoun via TikTok.

@aviation_newzealand

Air New Zealand flight NZ671 Auckland to Dunedin has just landed back at Auckland Airport after 4 hours and 30 minutes in the air!! New Zealand to Australia takes less 🤯✈️ #fyp #foryou #aviation #airbus #airbus320 #airnz #airnewzealand #divertedflight #cabincrew #badweather

♬ Helikopter - Fazlija

The route has had some unreliability recently.

This was the second time this week the flight bounced back to Auckland Airport, after a similar detour on Tuesday. The diversions involved two different aircraft, and on May 21, NZ671 got as far as Mosgiel before heading back to Tāmaki Makaurau.

Passengers and planespotters wanted to know why they didn’t divert to a closer airport, with Invercargill just two hours away from Dunedin Airport by bus.

Sophean speculated this was due to fog on the runway and the plane headed back to Auckland due to scheduling requirements.

Fog over Dunedin Airport diverts flights

Air New Zealand said that it was a diffiult time of year for forecasting flight conditions.

“As we head into the colder months, weather around the country tends to become a little more unpredictable,” head of airline operations, Hugh Pearce told the Herald.

Fog was the main reason for delays and disruptions, including the two servies from Auckland to Dunedin.

Pearce said that in these cases, despite being far closer to other airports, diverting back to Auckland was the best option for the network operations.

“If an aircraft is unable to land at its intended destination due to unforeseen circumstances like weather, it will often return to the port it departed from. This helps us protect our wider schedule by getting aircraft and crew to where they need to be, and means customers are more easily rebooked on the next available service.”

NZ671 was one of five flights cancelled or impacted by the wintery scenes in Otago yesterday.

Dunedin airport marketing manager Chris Snow told the Otago Daily Times that by the afternoon, the airport was moving again and they hoped there would be no further disruption.