Bomb Threat Cancels Air New Zealand Flight, Delays Passengers

On January 3rd, an Air New Zealand flight was canceled after a bomb threat was made. The aircraft was evacuated and thoroughly searched, and no bomb was found on board.

Event Details

Air New Zealand Flight 677 (NZ677) was a scheduled domestic flight from Auckland Airport (AKL) carrying 153 passengers to Dunedin International Airport (DUD) in South New Zealand. The flight was operated with a 13-year-old Airbus A320 registered as ZK-OJS. The Airbus was delivered new to Air New Zealand in December 2011.

Flight 677 was supposed to depart at 16:55 local time (NZST). However, the flight was delayed by 45 minutes due to the Airbus arriving late from its previous flight from Queenstown. FlightRadar24.com data shows that the A320 initiated two go-arounds while attempting to land at Queenstown earlier that day, causing a 51-minute delay.

The flight had an estimated departure time of 17:40. Per AviationSource, as the plane taxied for takeoff, a bomb threat call was made regarding the flight. The plane returned to the gate before takeoff.
 

According to Air New Zealand Chief Operational Integrity and Safety Officer David Morgan, "Passengers remained on board for a period of time while standard procedures were followed". 

He further stated, "Our team worked hard to support passengers by providing snacks and water, booking accommodation for the night, and rebooking flights, while the police managed the incident. When it was clear police required passengers to remain a while longer, hot food was ordered and delivered from the international terminal including burgers, bagels, and fruit.”
 

Meanwhile, the Airbus A320 was thoroughly searched for any explosives. No threats were found inside the aircraft.

A police spokesperson stated, "The plane and all luggage on board was checked by Police’s Specialist Search Group, and nothing of concern was located. Enquiries were ongoing to identify the person or persons responsible for the phone threat".

Due to the outbound flight being canceled, the inbound flight, NZ678 from Dunedin to Auckland, was also canceled.

Passengers Expressing Discomfort

During the ordeal, some passengers — while appreciating authorities for taking the threat seriously — expressed discomfort regarding their treatment. One passenger claims to have not been provided with "basic well-being needs", and having to share accommodation with only two beds between one adult and three children. A family said that the response "lacked basic Manaakitanga (care)".

Other passengers took to social media to share their experiences. One passenger wrote about their experience on the flight:

"I was on that flight and we were waiting and waiting then finally off the plane to the security section shut in with only our phones. All bags and cabin luggage had to stay in the plane,”

They continued, “We were told later it was a security issue and the plane got towed to a remote area near the international airport and we had to disembark off there then get on a bus where the bus took us to a security area near Jetstar terminal. So we then waited until virtually 11:30 p.m. before we got our hand luggage delivered by police and airport security, then able to leave the airport and go to our designated overnight hotels.” 

A woman on board recorded the announcements made by the cabin crew on board. She claimed that passengers were on the plane for 3.5 hours. She received her luggage at approximately 11:30 p.m., nearly 6 hours after the incident. The recording captures the following announcement from the pilot:

"We’re going to ask all passengers to disembark the aircraft in just a moment. The airport security police have asked that we leave all bags on board the aircraft; that includes your handbags, pocketbooks, laptops, any bags."

“Please just walk off. Please walk off with no bags on your person. Once the security team have been on board the aircraft and done what they’ve needed to do, they will retrieve all of the items on the aircraft and bring them into our terminal."

“If you have any questions, there will be staff available in the terminal to assist you, and we do have hotel accommodation arranged and bus transport."

“We’ll make more of an announcement at the gate lounge – once everybody’s off the aircraft. You have been on board the aircraft for quite some time.”

The Aftermath

The airline stated that passengers were rebooked on later flights or offered alternative travel arrangements.

The inbound flight from Dunedin to Auckland was also canceled as the outbound flight never made it to Dunedin.

ZK-OJS, the Airbus A320 involved, returned to service the next day operating flight NZ635 from Auckland to Queenstown. At the time of writing, the aircraft is flying flight NZ457 from Auckland to Wellington.