An Air New Zealand plane bound for Melbourne was turned around yesterday after flight crew encountered a "minor technical issue" onboard.
Passengers aboard the NZ125 flight were travelling from Auckland to Melbourne when the decision was made for the plane to return to Auckland for assessment.
Air New Zealand chief operational integrity and safety officer Captain David Morgan told 1News there was "no safety risk to passengers on board" and that the plane did have to circle before landing to meet weight requirements.
"As a consequence, we unfortunately had to cancel NZ216 yesterday evening from Melbourne to Christchurch.
"We appreciate the patience and understanding of our customers while our customer care team works through rebooking passengers onto the next available services," Morgan said.
Plane tracking site FlightRadar24 showed the plane having done multiple loops off the coast to the west of Auckland before landing yesterday.
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