The flight of Air New Zealand turns around due to concerns An aircraft struck an object

A flight from Christchurch to Dunedin turned around midway after the pilots had thought they would have hit something initially.

Air New Zealand flight NZ5759 departed Christchurch on Friday at 19:12, but only reached Timaru before turning around, as shown by radar flight 24.

A spokeswoman for Air New Zealand said the plane had returned to Christchurch as a precaution.

"The pilots believed that a wheel of the main landing gear had touched an object initially."

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The plane landed normally at 8 pm and will be inspected by engineers, the spokeswoman said.

Neither police nor firefighters were alerted to the incident.

A Dunedin mother whose 10-year-old son was on board the flight was not happy with how the airline handled the situation.

She was waiting for her son at the airport and was not informed of the situation until she called from Christchurch.

Air New Zealand did not contact her about 10 minutes after her son did, she said.

The mother, who does not want to be named, said that better communication was needed in case of problems on flights with unaccompanied minors.

Guests looking for accommodation have hotel rooms and alternative services tomorrow, said Air NZ spokeswoman.