Thirty-six different flights were delayed around New Zealand on Monday as smoke in an air traffic control tower caused a fire alarm and evacuation.
Airways, the company controlling New Zealand air space, has apologised to passengers, after its power supply started smoking and the radar stopped working.
The fault happened at 1:20pm, when smoke was detected from the power source in the building where the radar facilities are housed.
Chief executive of Airways, Graeme Sumner, apologised to travellers and explained what happened.
Mr Sumner says in addition to the 36 flights, three planes already in the air were turned back.
He says Fire and Emergency were called but couldn't say what caused the power supply to smoke.
