Two Qantas flights between Australia and New Zealand diverted, one after suspected mechanical issues

Two Qantas flights between Australia and New Zealand were forced to divert from their original destinations and ended up landing in Auckland and Christchurch instead.

Two Qantas flights between Australia and New Zealand were forced to divert from their original destinations this afternoon, with a Melbourne-bound flight diverted to Auckland and a Queenstown-bound plane diverted to Christchurch.

Flight QF132 departed Christchurch at about 6.13am and was forced to turn around nearly an hour-and-a-half into the flight.

It then began heading north along the west side of the country and circled four times above Raglan before arriving safely at Auckland Airport.

The flight from the South Island city to Melbourne normally takes three-and-a-half hours and departs once a day.

A Qantas spokesperson told the Herald the diversion was out of an abundance of caution to check a mechanical issue.

“The aircraft landed safely and normally and was inspected by engineers. Passengers departed again for Melbourne after around 3 hours.”

Another Qantas flight from Brisbane to Queenstown this afternoon was also diverted.

Flight QF185 left around 11am NZST and, rather than landing at its intended destination, flew south around the resort town and diverted north to land at Christchurch Airport.

A Qantas spokesperson said “before landing, the pilots of our Brisbane flight received a system error message and elected to divert the flight to Christchurch where there were clearer weather conditions and the aircraft would be in a better position to be inspected by engineers”.

The flight from the Queensland city traditionally takes about four hours and leaves every morning.