“The aircraft has landed safely and our maintenance team will now inspect the aircraft before it is returned to service,” McGraw said.
“In line with standard operating procedures, emergency services attended as a precaution.
“We regret the inconvenience this has caused our customers travelling to Nelson this afternoon and we are working to get them to their destination as quickly as possible.
“We thank them for their patience and understanding.”
The airport confirmed emergency services had been stood down.
Air New Zealand flight NZ5077 flew as far south as Mt Taranaki before turning back to Auckland. Photo / Flightradar24
“Runway operations have returned to normal, however there may be some small delays to departing flights.
“We thank travellers for their patience.”
This follows passengers on a flight travelling to Rarotonga clocking in nearly eight hours of flight time after an Air New Zealand plane was unable to land.
Flight ANZ946 left Auckland Airport at 9.02am yesterday morning and was scheduled to land at about 12.30pm NZT.
However, the aircraft turned around near Avarua because it faced poor landing conditions due to “adverse weather” on the ground, according to Air New Zealand’s chief operating officer Alex Marren.
Air New Zealand flight ANZ946 was forced to turn back to Auckland due to poor landing conditions in Rarotonga. Photo / Flight Aware
The flight landed back in Auckland at 4.50pm and an additional flight had been scheduled for affected passengers.
“We know this is disappointing for our customers, and our teams are working hard to get everyone to their destinations as soon as possible,” Marren said.