An Air New Zealand flight en route to Avarua (RAR) was forced to return to Auckland (AKL) on Thursday following a lightning strike.
A lightning strike on Thursday necessitated the return to Auckland (AKL) of an Air New Zealand flight headed for Avarua (RAR).
incident details
According to the New Zealand Herald, the 4-year-old Airbus A321neo (ZK-NNC), flying as flight NZ942 on Thursday morning, departed Auckland Airport at 06:22 NZST. The jet entered a circle pattern above Omaha Bay and stayed in the air for under two hours, burning off extra fuel, less than 15 minutes into the customary three-and-a-half-hour flight to the Cook Islands.
Eventually, the plane made a turn back toward Auckland, where it safely landed at 08:00 NZST. Both the crew and the passengers were unharmed.
ZK-NNC is currently parked at Auckland Airport, but it will still fly on flights later this week to Melbourne (MEL) and the Gold Coast (OOL).
A carrier official acknowledged the occurrence in a statement given to 1News, stating that the aircraft will go through routine technical tests,
"Lightning strikes are not uncommon, aircraft are designed with this in mind and our pilots train for this scenario. Our team will be working to re-accommodate customers on the next available service."
Stuff reports that a recovery flight to Rarotonga is being organized for travelers this afternoon, and some travelers have already made other travel arrangements. The airline advises that non-booked customers will be automatically rebooked; however, travelers with other forms of transportation can get in touch with the airline to be switched to a later flight.
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