Passengers onboard a recent Qantas flight between New York and Auckland were diverted to Fiji and, eventually, Sydney. The flight, which is QF4, is a scheduled service that operates four times a week between New York and Sydney via Auckland, utilizing the flying kangaroos’ Boeing 787-9 Dreamliner.
Using Auckland as a one-stop route between Australia and the Big Apple
Qantas decided to go head-to-head with its hometown carrier, Air New Zealand, on the lucrative New York – Auckland route in June last year, taking full advantage of the capabilities of the Dreamliner aircraft that can make the distance without refueling.
At the time, Qantas CEO Alan Joyce reiterated that the airline is committed to connecting New Zealand. Auckland provides the ideal springboard to connect to JFK, avoiding the lengthy delays airline passengers used to experience when Qantas flew to New York but via Los Angeles International Airport.
Photo: Austin Deppe | Shutterstock
Followers of the Australian carrier know full well of the airline’s ambitions to one day connect Sydney directly to New York as part of its ‘Project Sunrise’ initiative. This initiative will utilize the Airbus A350-1000ULR, which will serve New York and London directly from Sydney Kingsford Smith Airport (SYD).
A long trip on QF4
Looking at data from Flightradar24, it appears that on Wednesday, October 4, ZK-ZNN was scheduled to depart from New York John F. Kennedy Airport at 19:20 for the 16-hour journey southwest to New Zealand and eventually to Sydney. However, it was delayed until 20:07 local time.
Once it departed from New York, it quickly rose to its cruising altitude of 34,000 feet, and the journey seemed to operate as usual as it headed across the Pacific Ocean. However, as the flight passed the nation of Tonga, it appeared the aircraft made a sharp turn back towards Fiji, touching down at Nadi International Airport (NAN) at 04:38 local time on October 4 (the flight crossed the international date line).
Source: Flightradar24
Simple Flying reached out to Qantas to get clarification on why the flight was unable to continue with its nonstop service to Auckland. It was advised that due to fog at Auckland International Airport (AKL), the flight would’ve been unable to land safely, so the decision was made to divert to Fiji.
After waiting some time on the apron in Fiji, fog still had not lifted in the City of Sails, so the decision was made for the flight to continue to Sydney directly, departing from Nadi at 16:48 and arriving back in Australia at 21:00. This affected passengers who required onward flights to New Zealand, who were re-accommodated on one of the many services the airline operates between Sydney and Auckland each day.
Source: Simple Flying
