Police called after China Southern plane delay

The China Southern flight's arrival in Auckland was delayed six hours. File photo / Natalie Slade

Police were called to calm a frustrated passenger from a China Southern Airlines flight that was stranded for hours on the tarmac at Auckland Airport with a mechanical fault.

The aircraft was due to leave at 10pm on Saturday night but passengers were forced to stay inside the Airbus A330 until the flight to Guangzhou was cancelled around 2.30am on Sunday.

One passenger said police had to be called to calm down another would-be traveller who berated airline staff after the flight was abandoned.

After watching movies aboard the plane the passengers were offloaded and put up in hotels before the flight finally took off at about 6pm on Sunday.

The passenger, who contacted the Herald from China, said the airline's communication was "terrible."

" I called them half a dozen times and they weren't answering their phone. I found out what time the flight was leaving by looking at the airport website. Everyone was complaining about the communication when we checked in for the flight on Sunday," the passenger said.

While on the tarmac the passengers only heard once from the captain.

Every passenger got 300 RMB (NZ$72) compensation when they arrived in Guangzhou.
The airline said it would respond to Herald inquiries later today.

China Southern is about to increase services between Auckland and Guangzhou and is considering flights to Christchurch. The airline started flying to New Zealand in 2011.