Photo: 123rf.com
An Air New Zealand flight was stuck on the tarmac for hours before being canned on Saturday night after it suffered a fuel fault and crew fell sick.
NZ80 from Hong Kong to Auckland was set to depart at 5:45pm, but did not go to plan.
Teresa Housel had been on holiday in Taiwan with her husband and was on board the plane to Auckland.
Housel said they were sitting outside the airport gate for a couple of hours, with the pilot speaking over the comms system to passengers a few times stating there had been a technical issue with the plane.
The pilot then stated the issue had been resolved and the plane pulled away from the gate.
But the aircraft then sat on the tarmac for another two hours, after which the pilot told passengers half of their crew were sick meaning they could not fly, she said.
Air New Zealand was able to provide her accommodation and she was able to get a flight on Sunday evening.
The flight was almost like a bad omen, Housel said.
"In some ways we feel peace about the fact it was cancelled because we wondered if it was like a sign it shouldn't have went ahead.
"It was just kind of a very odd coincidence of things after the other."
She said that the situation was well handled by Air New Zealand.
A spokesperson for the airline said initially the flight suffered a fuel fault which was resolved, but the plane had to return to the gate due to three unwell crew members.
"Passengers have been re-accommodated on the next available services, and we thank them for their patience while we worked through this disruption.
"The crew members are recovering and will return to New Zealand as soon as practically possible."
In a separate incident, an Air New Zealand flight from Wellington to Sydney was diverted on Sunday afternoon after it suffered an engine issue.
