Earlier this week, an Air New Zealand Boeing 787 operating flight NZ946, couldn’t land in Rarotonga, resulting in a u-turn all the way back to Auckland.
Information has been released pertinent to this incident, as we will detail in this article.
Without further ado, let’s get into it…
Air New Zealand NZ946 – Auckland to Rarotonga & Back!…
Air New Zealand flight NZ946 is a routine scheduled flight between Auckland and Rarotonga.
Furthermore, it is understood that the aircraft involved was ZK-NZL.
As per data from Planespotters.net, ZK-NZL is a 6.9 year old Boeing 787-9 Dreamliner that was delivered to the airline in October 2017.
Moreover, of the 787-9 variant, Air New Zealand has 14 of them in their fleet.
Within that 14, all but two are in active service, with an average fleet age of 8.2 years.
As well as the 787-9, Air New Zealand has the following other aircraft in their fleet:
- 29 ATR 72s.
- 23 Airbus A320s.
- 12 Airbus A321s.
- 9 Boeing 777s.
- 23 Bombardier Dash 8s.
Air New Zealand flight NZ946 departed Auckland at 0910 local time on July 30 and tracked north-easterly towards Rarotonga.
As per AviationA2Z, it is understood that the aircraft attempted two crosswind landings into the airport.
Both of them failed, which prompted the call to make the return all of the way back to base, being Auckland.
NZ946 landed safely back into the airline’s hub at 1712 local time that same day, amounting to around eight hours of flight.
The Right Call Was Made Due to Weather…
Air New Zealand Head of Flight Operations Hugh Pearce added that in the case of NZ946 Auckland-Rarotonga, safety is the highest priority.
In this case, it was definitely the right call to make, especially if both landing attempts failed.
Furthermore, whilst an inconvenience to passengers, the airline will rebook them on future flights.
The reason for the return back to base is the lack of diversion fields in the area that could take an aircraft the size of a 787 Dreamliner.
All eyes will be on whether this disruptive event will provide a further knock-on to the airline or not.
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