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 take-off.
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.
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.
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 (as of 3.25pm):
Thurday, 7 December
NZ175 – Auckland to Perth – Cancelled
NZ178 – Perth-Auckland – Cancelled
NZ31 – Buenos Aires – Auckland – Delayed by 8 hours, 55 minutes
NZ282 – Auckland – Singapore – Delayed 35 minutes
NZ289 – Auckland – Shanghai – Delayed 5 hours, 40 Minutes
Friday, 8 December
NZ97 – Auckland – Osaka – Cancelled
NZ98 – Osaka – Auckland – Cancelled
NZ175 – Auckland – Perth – Delayed 3 hours, 30 minutes
NZ162 – Perth – Christchurch – Delayed 7 hours, 35 minutes
NZ161 – Christchurch – Perth – Delayed 4 hours, 50 Minutes
NZ289 – Auckland – Shanghai – Delayed 7 hours, 30 Minutes
NZ288 – Shanghai – Auckland – Delayed 1 hour, 45 Minutes
NZ61 – Auckland – Rarotonga – Sydney Delayed 1 hour, 30 Minutes
Saturday, 9 December
NZ30 – Auckland – Buenos Aires – Delayed 5 hours, 35 minutes
NZ289 – Auckland – Shanghai – Delayed 7 hours, 30 minutes
NZ288 – Shanghai – Auckland – Delayed 3 hours
NZ28 – Auckland – Houston – Cancelled
NZ29 – Houston – Auckland – Cancelled
Sunday, 10 December
NZ289 Auckland – Shanghai – Delayed 1 hour, 16 minutes
This story was first published on the RNZ website.
