Auckland to Honolulu time travellers celebrate New Year's twice

The Hawaiian Airlines flight left on January 1 and arrived on December 31. Photo / File

It took 2018 years but it seems time travel has finally been invented.

A flight leaving Auckland bound for Honolulu, Hawaii, took off in 2018 but, after an unexpected delay, landed last year.

Sam Sweeney spotted the time anomaly and posted about it on Twitter.

"Because of an unexpected delay, Hawaiian Airlines flight 446 took off in 2018 and will land in 2017 #timetravel," Sweeney wrote.

Hawaiian Airlines flight HAL446 left Auckland Airport at 12.05am on January 1, 2018, and arrived in Honolulu at 10.16am on December 31, 2017, local time.

Auckland is 23 hours ahead of Honolulu.

The post attracted a number of comments.

"So, we have time travel, but still no flying cars," one Twitter user wrote.

"So, in theory, the passengers could have celebrated the new year and will get a chance to do it for the 2nd time in 24 hours," another said.