Unfortunately, Air Latest Zealand (NZ) travelers seeking to head for Japan had their trip cut short on June 18th, when the flight needed to show around, just three hours right into a ten-hour journey between Auckland and Tokyo attributable to a damaged windscreen.
The Auckland-based carrier operates a each day connection north to Japan, with schedules from Flightradar24.com showing NZ99 normally would beat back from Auckland International Airport (AKL), at 08:50, for the journey of over ten hours towards Tokyo Narita International Airport (NRT).
Photo: Christchurch Airport Newsroom
Passengers were advised mid-flight that they’d be heading back to Auckland, and news quickly filtered through the cabin once flight attendants spoke to passengers mentioning it was attributable to damage on the windscreen. Whilst investigations are ongoing into how the damage was made on the Boeing 787-9, it’s unlikely that it was attributable to impact from something within the air, given the flight was traveling at 35,000 feet.
Based on data from Flightradar24.com, the aircraft in query, ZK-NZJ, is a six-year-old Dreamliner, first delivered to Air Latest Zealand in September 2016. Before its attempted jaunt north to Japan, it had operated just one rotation the day prior, June 18th, NZ145/146, between Auckland and Brisbane International Airport (BNE). The aircraft remained in Auckland from 18:35 on June 18th until attempting to travel to Tokyo the next morning.
Photo: Mehdi Photos I Shutterstock.
Passengers are upset but understanding.
While anyone can be upset if their trip was unexpectantly diverted, most passengers respected and applauded the pilot’s actions, with many noting that although it was classed as a ‘minor technical issue,’ that passengers could remain calm and that they’d have the option to return safely to Auckland to make repairs.
Based on the report made by 1News, passengers were told that they’d be re-accommodated onto recent flights inside 24 hours, and data from Flightradar24.com shows that the airline didn’t operate an additional service that evening to assist the stranded passengers. It is probably going that many were re-accommodated onto NZ99’s direct flight the next day or via most of the other Asian ports through which Air Latest Zealand operates.
Sources: Flightradar24.com, 1News