Air NZ Long haul delays, cancellations to last weeks
Air New Zealand is cancelling some flights and delaying others because of engine problems with its long haul fleet.
The airline said there have been some problems with the Rolls-Royce Trent 1000 engines on its Boeing 787 Dreamliner planes.
Earlier this week, a flight carrying 268 passengers and 14 crew to Japan had to turn back 20 minutes after takeoff.
At the time, the airline said the captain chose to shut down the engine as a precaution. In a second incident on Wednesday, a flight to Argentina was also forced to turn back.
The Transport Accident Investigation Commission is investigating the two incidents.
Air New Zealand said each day over coming weeks it would have to delay and cancel some flights.
The planes are used on long-haul flights to North America, Asia and Australia.
Air New Zealand said it has been told by Rolls-Royce that some of its engines will need maintenance sooner than expected, but there are no spare engines while the work is done.
The carrier said it was looking for replacement planes. Thousands of Air New Zealand passengers affected have been offered refunds, or put on other flights on a different day.
Other airlines with the same engines have been forced to ground planes because of problems with cracking turbine blades.
Passengers affected will be contacted by the airline. The scheduled changes will last until Sunday and are as follows: