On Thursday (16 Feb) evening, passengers boarded their Air New Zealand flight to New York, ready for the long trip ahead of them.
However, 16 hours later, the ANZ2 flight passengers ended up right where they started, at Auckland Airport.
Source: Flight Global
The flight was about two-thirds way across the Pacific when it was forced to turn around due to an electrical outage at New York’s John F. Kennedy (JFK) International Airport, reported NZ Herald.
After over 16 hours in the air, passengers on the ANZ2 Air New Zealand flight on 16 Feb were back at Auckland Airport.
According to NZ Herald, JFK Airport announced that they were not accepting flights when the plane was over the Pacific.
An electrical outage hit the airport, and Terminal 1, which handles international flights, was closed, forcing flights scheduled to land there to be diverted.
While some flights landed at nearby airports like Newark, Washington Dulles, and Boston Logan, ANZ2 was turned around mid-flight.
FlightAware noted that the flight was in the air for 16 hours and 25 minutes.
Source: FlightAware
Air New Zealand later said the JFK power disruption was due to an electrical fire.
Passengers were understandably upset by the development.
Speaking to CNN Travel, frequent flyer Bryan Gottlieb said he slept soundly, expecting to land in JFK after waking up.
Instead, he was awoken by his fellow passenger tapping his shoulder and saying, “Did you know we’re almost back in Auckland?”.
Mr Gottlieb said word about the diversion had spread, but no announcement came until the flight almost arrived back in New Zealand.
At the time, the pilot acknowledged that the decision was based on schedule efficiency for the airline.
There was also a lack of crew at an airport near JFK, and this would have caused the airline further delays.
Despite this, Mr Gottlieb said everyone on the plane would have much preferred landing in “any airport in the US”.
This was Mr Gottlieb’s second attempt at getting home to the States after his first flight was cancelled due to the cyclone that hit New Zealand.
Air New Zealand airline later apologised for the inconvenience caused, saying they were grateful for customers’ patience and understanding.
A spokesperson said diverting to another US port would have meant the aircraft would stay grounded for several days.
According to NZ Herald, this will impact a number of scheduled services and customers.
Passengers on the affected flight were later rebooked on the next available service.
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Featured image adapted from Reuters.
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