Barred flight a mistake by airline: Expert
Commentator says travellers on jet turned back by China entitled to compensation
An Air New Zealand flight that had to turn around because it did not have permission to land in China appears to be the fault of the airline, aviation commentators say.
The NZ289 Shanghai-bound flight with 275 passengers on board from Auckland late Saturday night was turned back about five hours into the journey after it was found the aircraft did not have a permit to land.
A statement from Air New Zealand said: “It is normal process to get a flight plan cleared by local authorities prior to departure and this was done on this occasion and was approved by Chinese authorities.
“Unfortunately, it was discovered during the flight that this particular aircraft did not, in fact, have the necessary permit to land.”
Last night the airline said: “The issue . . . was specific to the particular aircraft operating the service and we are confident that it won’t cause any issues going forward.”
Independent aviation commentator Irene King said such an incident was highly unusual and knew of only one other instance of this happening with an Air New Zealand aircraft.
She said it was likely that although the airline would have filed for an aircraft to land, a different aircraft was suddenly listed to land on the other side — something Chinese authorities would not have accepted.
“China’s very restrictive to filing applications for landing slots. Normally, the airlines are obsessive with their systems — filing . . . applications days, weeks, months in advance.
“There’s been a serious administrative cock-up for this to happen.”
King said it was well-known among airlines and the aviation world that the Chinese were strict about their airspace; so it was the airline’s mistake to make.
“It’s just highly unusual. Basically, it should not have happened.
“Under the Civil Aviation Act . . . the passengers can apply for up to 10 times the amount of compensation because this is not an act of God or an engineering [or technical] problem.
“Passengers should file and are entitled to compensation.”
Eric Hundman, an assistant professor at NYU’s Shanghai campus and a passenger on the flight, told the Herald the flight took off from Auckland as scheduled close to midnight but “midway through our flight, the pilot informs us that Chinese authorities had not given this plane permission to land, so we needed to turn around”.
The flight returned to Auckland about 9.30am yesterday, Hundman said.
Shortly after 11.30am, Hundman was sent a text from Air NZ saying: “As you were advised onboard, the aircraft operating your flight did not have regulatory approval to land in China and was required to return to Auckland.”
Prime Minister Jacinda Ardern had not been briefed about the situation. She said it sounded like an operational matter for the airline.
“The Government is aware of this matter,” an Mfat spokeswoman said.