Because a fire in New York-JFK caused chaos, some flights had to turn back. This became particularly frustrating for travelers on Air New Zealand’s prestige route.
The John F. Kennedy International Airport in New York is one of the largest airports in the USA. Around 62.5 million passengers were handled at six terminals in the pre-corona year 2019. Terminal 1 of the airport has been closed since Thursday (February 16). The reason is a power outage, triggered by a “small isolated fire on a control panel, which was immediately extinguished,” according to the responsible airport authority.
Around 20 foreign airlines are handled in Terminal 1, including Lufthansa, Air France and Air New Zealand. While the airport was able to handle some airlines at the remaining terminals, other incoming international flights were diverted to other East Coast airports. Still other flights have been asked to return to their departure airports.
Turnaround just before Hawaii
Air New Zealand flight NZ2 also had to turn back. After eight hours of flying, the passengers and crew had to return to Auckland. The Boeing 787-9 was already south of Hawaii. The flight is considered the airline’s ultra-long-haul flight and has had several problems in the past. The plane landed back in Auckland about 16 hours after its departure.
The pilots of flight NZ2 have tried to find alternatives, the writes Portal Paddle Your Own Kanoo. The cockpit crew asked Air New Zealand to be allowed to land in Houston so that travelers could continue to New York on other domestic routes. A second suggestion was a short stop with a crew change in another US city. The airline rejected all suggestions and ordered the return.
Air New Zealand defends decision
The airline defends the decision. A statement said that “diversion to another US airport would have meant the plane would be grounded for several days, impacting a number of other scheduled services and customers.” The airline also apologized to all passengers affected.
Air New Zealand is not alone, Korean Air flight KE85 from Seoul to New York also had to return to South Korea in around five hours. On December 27, Jetstar travelers also experienced an involuntary eight-hour scenic flight when flight JQ35 was forced to turn around 35 minutes before it was scheduled to land in Bali.
