The reason for the delay had left her puzzled.
"I've never heard of a radar being down anywhere else before."
Earlier, passengers in Tauranga onboard a Christchurch-bound plane that was supposed to depart a plane at 3.25pm were told soon after they were boarded that the flight had been grounded.
One of the passengers, a Christchurch resident who had been holidaying in Papamoa, has decided to stay on another night.
- NZH
UPDATED 4.15pm: Passengers at Tauranga Airport are waiting patiently despite the delays caused by a radar fault.
Air New Zealand confirmed the fault was fixed and flights would be able to take off again about 4.10pm.
A reporter at Tauranga Airport said no one knew how long they would be waiting but airport staff said they would update passengers as they were able to.
The departures board showed two flights had been delayed and one cancelled.
The 3.25pm flight to Christchurch was now scheduled to depart at 4.30pm and the 3.50pm flight to Auckland was due to leave at 5pm.
The 4.55pm flight to Wellington has been cancelled.
EARLIER: All commercial flights have been grounded across the country due to a radar fault. One plane in Tauranga has been delayed and remains on the ground.
The fault means flights currently up in the air can land but no planes are allowed to take off.
One plane had been delayed at Tauranga Airport and remained on the ground, airport manager Ray Dumble said.
"About 50 minutes ago there was some big failure in the national air traffic radar system," he said.
An Auckland Airport spokesman told the NZ Herald that all flights in the air could land, but departures were halted until the fault was resolved.
"We were informed by Airways New Zealand of a radar fault which is affecting all flights nationally," he said. "There is no resolution at this stage.
"All flights across the country are able to land but they are holding all departures until the fault is resolved."
A similar fault has occurred in previous years, he said.
