16-hour Flight to Nowhere: Air New Zealand Plane Takes U-turn to Auckland After Covering 14,000 kms

Passengers onboard a trans-Pacific flight from Auckland to New York spent 16 hours – only to return right where they took off.

Air New Zealand Ltd. Flight NZ2, was scheduled to touch down at John F. Kennedy International Airport Terminal 1 at 5:40 pm local time, but a power outage threw operations into disarray, affecting at least 135 flights into and out of the city.

The flight took a u-turn about halfway after covering 14,000 kilometres journey over the Pacific Ocean, just south of Hawaii.

“Due to an electrical fire in Terminal 1 at JFK Airport and the terminal’s subsequent closure, NZ2 Auckland to New York was forced to divert back to Auckland,” Air New Zealand said in a statement.

While the flight took a u-turn, it was one of the most monitored aircraft all over the world in real time.

“Diverting to another US port would have meant the aircraft would remain on the ground for several days, impacting a number of other scheduled services and customers,” the aircraft company added.

The flight landed on Friday afternoon (local time) and passengers were rebooked on flights scheduled to leave Friday night and Saturday.

“We are working to accommodate impacted flights using other terminals. Travelers, please check flight status with your airline before heading to the airport,” it said.

“Gotta be up there as one of the worst diversions ever of all time,” wrote Jason Rabinowitz, a travel analyst, on Twitter.

Several other flights also couldn’t make it to other terminals. Flights from Seoul, Rome and Milan returned to their origin airports, while the Korean Air flight was in the air for 13.5 hours. Meanwhile, other flights were diverted to alternate U.S. airports.

The incident comes a month after an Emirates flight from Dubai to Auckland turned back due to flooding at the destination, treating passengers to a 13-hour flight to nowhere.

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