Explosive detector dog unit sweeps aircraft, luggage after Dunedin-bound flight turned back at Auckland

• Passengers on a Dunedin-bound Air New Zealand flight were forced off the aircraft and had to leave their luggage behind following a security incident at Auckland Airport last night.
• Police have now confirmed a threat was made by phone specific to that aircraft.
• The plane and luggage were checked over by a specialist team, but nothing of concern was found.

Police have revealed a plane bound for Dunedin from Auckland Airport was turned around last night due to a threat made by phone, specific to that aircraft.

And audio has emerged of what passengers were told during their almost four-hour wait in their seats on the tarmac.

Air New Zealand flight NZ677 was due to depart from Auckland to Dunedin before 6pm yesterday.

But soon after departure the aircraft returned to the gate.

Air New Zealand chief operational integrity and safety officer David Morgan said the return was due to “security reasons”.

“Passengers remained on board for a period of time while standard procedures were followed,” he said.

“Passengers… disembarked safely. We apologise for any distress and inconvenience felt by passengers.”

Air New Zealand referred all further questions to police.

This morning a police spokesperson confirmed that at 5.30pm a threat was made by phone in relation to the soon-to-depart flight.

“The plane was held at Auckland Airport and all those on board were removed from the plane and taken to a secure location within the airport, as a precautionary measure,” they said.

“The plane and all luggage on board was checked by Police’s Specialist Search Group, and nothing of concern was located.

“Inquiries are ongoing to identify the persons responsible for the threat.”

A woman whose daughter was on the flight contacted the Herald, providing audio of the security announcement made on the aircraft after the threat was made.

“I have recordings of the announcements made to passengers. The flight attendant in the second recording has fear in her voice,” she said.

“My daughter said she was on board for 3.5 hours. They didn’t get their bags until 11.30pm.”

In the recording, the flight attendant says: “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 woman’s daughter also took a photograph of the K9 explosive detector dog unit vehicle parked near the aircraft.

Other passengers have commented online about their experience.

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

“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 11.30pm 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.”

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