Qantas flight bound for NZ forced to return to Sydney due to ‘unusual smell’, crew member taken to hospital

An 'unusual smell' prompted a Qantas flight bound for Wellington to turn back around. Screenshot / Flightradar24

A flight attendant was admitted to hospital after a Qantas flight bound for Wellington was forced to land in Sydney following reports of a strange odour onboard.

The flight, QF163, left Sydney and headed for New Zealand’s capital around 7pm local time last night. However, just an hour into the journey the Boeing 737-838 started to turn back, landing back in Sydney at 9.30pm.

“A flight from Sydney to Wellington returned to Sydney after reports of an unusual smell in the cabin,” a Qantas spokesperson said.

The airline said that as standard procedure, the pilots declared a priority landing and were met by the aviation fire service on arrival into Sydney. This was not an emergency landing.

”The aircraft landed safely and will be checked by engineers before returning to service.”

Qantas confirmed all passengers had remained in Sydney overnight.

”Customers will be provided accommodation and re-accommodated onto the next available flight.

”We apologise for the disruption to their journey and thank them for their understanding.”

The airline added no passengers were impacted, though one cabin crew member was transported to hospital “for further medical checks as a precautionary measure”.

This isn’t the first time a flight has had to abruptly turn around because of a particular smell onboard.

Last year, an Air New Zealand flight between Nelson and Auckland was grounded at Hamilton Airport due to the smell of gas.

In 2018, Indonesian airline Sriwijaya Air was grounded over the pungent smell of durian fruit.

The airline admitted it was carrying more than two tonnes of the smelly fruit and said the smell would dissipate once the plane took off.

A journalist from Indonesia’s Antara news agency was also on board and reported that some passengers had arguments with staff that nearly ended in physical blows.