By Steve Williams For Daily Mail Australia
02:12 01 Jul 2024, updated 03:10 01 Jul 2024
- Qantas flight to Brisbane forced to turn back
- Plane spent three hours in the air
A Qantas flight to Brisbane was forced to return to New Zealand following a technical issue.
Qantas flight QF120 left Auckland International Airport at 6.18am on Monday before returning more than three hours later at 9.30am.
An airline spokesman said the decision was made due to technical issues on the flight.
The Boeing 737-800 aircraft was an hour into the flight when it began to turn back.
The aircraft was forced to complete large circles over the North Island to reduce its landing weight before it was allowed to land at the airport two hours later.
A flight path was shared online raising concerns among social media users.
‘Are these guys OK?’ one asked on Reddit.
A replacement flight left the airport at 10.30am.
The flight is scheduled to arrive in Brisbane at 2pm local time.
There are expected to be no further disruptions to the schedule, with the next flight due to depart Auckland International Airport at 6.25am tomorrow.
A Qantas spokesman told Daily Mail Australia: ‘One of our flights to Brisbane returned to Auckland this morning due to an engine-related issue which our engineers troubleshooted and has since departed again for Brisbane.’
‘We apologise to our customers for the extended travel time this morning.’
The latest issue comes after a Qantas flight from Canberra to Brisbane was forced to make an emergency landing after losing the use of its brakes on Friday.
QF1908 from Canberra to Brisbane was due to depart at 5.25pm but was delayed.
Shortly after taking off, a warning light indicated there was a brake issue with the aircraft.
The aircraft landed on the longest runway at Brisbane Airport at 8.02pm with no issues.
In June a Qantas flight from Sydney to Auckland was diverted back to Sydney after striking a bird over the Tasman Sea.
Flight QF141 was half an hour into its flight when it turned back to Australia.
The aircraft circled over NSW’s Central Coast for 40 minutes before landing safely at Sydney Airport.