Aviation experts say Air NZ Auckland and Shanghai have made an air mistake

An Air New Zealand flight that had to turn around because it was not allowed to land in China was the fault of the airline, aviation commentators said.

Auckland's flight NZ289 to Shanghai late last night was returned about five hours after the start of the trip after discovering that the aircraft did not have a landing permit.

Air New Zealand said in a statement: "It is normal for local authorities to authorize a flight plan before departure, which was done on that occasion and was approved by the Chinese authorities.

"Unfortunately, it was discovered during the flight that this aircraft did not, in fact, have the necessary license to land."

The independent aviation commentator, Irene King, said that such an incident was extremely unusual and that she knew only one other example of what happened to her. flew with an Air New Zealand plane.

She added that it was likely that even though the airline had asked one plane to land, another plane had suddenly been listed to land on the other side – what the Chinese authorities would not have accepted.

"China is very restrictive in filing applications for landing slots.Normally, airlines are obsessed with their systems – filing landing slots requests days, weeks, months, months to the day. 39; advance.

"Clearly, there has been a serious administrative scam for this to happen."

According to King, airlines and the world of aviation knew that the Chinese were "very special" and strict about their airspace; it is therefore a mistake on the part of the airline.

"It's totally unusual. Basically, it should not have happened.

"Under the Civil Aviation Act, pbadengers can claim, for compensation, up to 10 times the amount of compensation, as it is neither unpaid nor unpaid. a case of force majeure or a technical problem or engineering.

"It's clearly an administrative procedure – well, I call it a bad-up and the pbadengers have to make a statement and they're entitled to compensation, that should not have happened."

Veteran Flight Instructor Warren Sattler reiterated his comments; saying that the Chinese authorities were insulting for following the rules.

"It could have been listed as a 777 and they could have taken a 787 instead.

"The Chinese – because of all the military airspace up there – were very, very specific.

"It's only a pure badumption on my part, Air New Zealand – for whatever reason, might have decided not to use a 777, but a 787."

Eric Hundman, an badistant professor on the Shanghai campus at NYU, told the Herald the flight took off from Auckland as planned near midnight last night but "halfway to our flight, the pilot informs us that the Chinese authorities had not given permission to this aircraft to take off, so we had to turn around.

A license issue, so-called, "he said.

The flight returned to Auckland around 9:30 this morning, said Hundman.

Shortly after 11:30 am, this morning, Hundman received an Air NZ message saying, "As you had been advised on board, the aircraft that operates your flight did not have it." regulatory clearance to land in China and was to return to Auckland. "

Premier Jacinda Ardern was not informed of the situation when she was questioned about it during the Big Gay Out party in Auckland.

She said it sounded like an online business.

Foreign Minister Winston Peters declined to comment on the issue, or the fact that he was informed by the Department of Foreign Affairs and Trade and forwarded all questions to the department.

"The government is aware of this case," said a spokeswoman for MFAT.

"Air New Zealand made it clear that this was due to a technical detail in the authorization process of flight plans, and that any questions should be asked to the airline."