A damaged windscreen has seen an Air New Zealand flight to Tokyo return to Auckland this afternoon after it was three hours into its journey.
NZ99 was near Vanuatu when it did a u-turn. It left Auckland just after 9am and the Boeing 787-9 Dreamliner touched back down in Auckland just after 3pm.
Air New Zealand gave a statement on what caused the flight to be turned back for repairs.
"Air New Zealand flight NZ99 from Auckland to Tokyo is returning to Auckland due to damage incurred to the outer layer of the windscreen," Chief Operational Integrity and Safety Officer, David Morgan said.
The Boeing 787-9 Dreamliner did a u-turn over Vanuatu after three hours in the air. (Source: 1News)
"Windows on aircraft are made up of multiple layers to withstand damage, however, to ensure the safety of our customers and crew it’s part of our standard operating procedure to return to one of our ports to allow our maintenance team to undertake repairs.
"Our team is currently working on rebooking customers on the next available service and we thank our customers for their patience while we do this."
An Air New Zealand spokesperson said that while investigations are underway on what caused the windshield to crack, the plane's altitude of 35,000ft rules out impact from an object as a cause.
Hibiscus and Bays Local Board Member Jake Law was on the flight and posted to his Instagram account: "Diverted back to Auckland for repairs 3 hours into our flight :(".
Law told 1News at the airport he was "really gutted" after finally getting annual leave.
"They just said that there was a minor technical issue, and for us not to be worried, and that they were flying back to Auckland because they couldn't do repairs in Tokyo," he said.
"At that time, we were just annoyed, and then later on, flight attendants shared that the windscreen had smashed.
"Which sounded pretty concerning, but they didn't seem to be alarmed.
"I don't think it was an emergency landing but it was pretty nerve-wracking."
Air NZ told passengers they'll be re-booked within 24 hours, Law added.
Czech couple Veronika Stefkova and Radk Cernoch were "a little bit scared" but praised Air NZ's handling of the situation.
They were also told about the cracked windscreen by a flight attendant, they said.
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