Disruptive passenger forces Auckland-bound Air NZ flight to land in Melbourne

An Air New Zealand flight bound for Auckland was forced to divert to Melbourne after an unruly passenger caused a disruption onboard.

Flight NZ176 left Perth Airport about 7.50pm local time yesterday and was due to land in Auckland this morning.

But three hours after take off, the Boeing 787-9 Dreamliner touched down in Melbourne, according to online flight tracker Flightradar24.

Air NZ chief operational integrity and safety officer Captain David Morgan said the flight stopped in Melbourne because of an “incident involving a disruptive passenger on board”.

An incident from a "disruptive passenger" caused an Auckland-bound Air NZ flight to make a stop in Melbourne. Screenshot / Flightradar24

“The aircraft was met by police on arrival in Melbourne,” Morgan said.

“The flight continued on to Auckland and landed at 8.50am, a delay of approximately 90 minutes”.

“Our crew managed this incident well, but incidents like this are distressing for customers and our people and we have zero tolerance for this sort of behaviour on our aircraft.

“We apologise for any inconvenience the diversion caused, but it was for the safety of everyone onboard and safety is something we won’t compromise on.”

Although the majority of the airline’s flights run without passenger disruption, occasional misdemeanours do occur.

In December, Air NZ revealed that it encountered 200 incidents of unruly behaviour - a post-pandemic high.

Morgan said at the time that the severity of the incidents and impact on other travellers become more severe towards the end of the year.

“Unfortunately, there are some people who fly with us who refuse to follow instructions, verbally abuse other people, or are disruptive,” he said.

In November, two passengers were kicked off an Air NZ flight before take-off from Wellington to Auckland after ignoring crew instructions and the safety briefing.

Air NZ’s Conditions of Carriage outlines some of the reasons the airline may remove a passenger from a plane. On its website, a section on its conditions reads:

“The health and safety of our passengers and crew is our top priority. We may refuse carriage or stop providing services to anyone who is putting the safety of other passengers or our crew at risk or behaving unacceptably, even if they have a confirmed ticket”.