On July 1, it emerged that an Air New Zealand Boeing 787, originally bound for Shanghai operated a nine hour from Auckland to Auckland flight due to engine trouble.
Information has been released pertinent to this incident, which we will get into in this article.
Without further ado, let’s get into it…
Air New Zealand NZ289 – Auckland to Shanghai…
Air New Zealand flight NZ289, which suffered engine trouble, is a routine scheduled flight between Auckland and Shanghai.
Also, the aircraft involved in the incident was ZK-NZD.
As per data from Planespotters.net, ZK-NZD is a 10.7 year old Boeing 787-9 that started out as a Testbed for Boeing in April 2013.
By July 2015, the aircraft was officially delivered to Air New Zealand as ZK-NZD.
Furthermore, of the 787-9 variant, NZ has 14 of them in their fleet.
Of that 14, all but two are in active service, with an average fleet age of 8.1 years.
As well as the 787-9, Air New Zealand has the following aircraft in their fleet:
- 29 ATR 42/72 Family aircraft.
- 23 Airbus A320 Family aircraft.
- 12 Airbus A321 Family aircraft.
- Nine Boeing 777 Family aircraft.
- 23 De Havilland Dash 8 Family aircraft.
Air New Zealand flight NZ289, of which the Boeing 787 suffered the engine trouble, departed Auckland at 2301 local time on July 1.
Everything appeared normal on the flight, originally bound for Shanghai.
Near the Solomon Islands, the crew decided to make a u-turn back to the Kiwi airport amid a problem onboard.
After a staggering nine hours and 23 minutes in the air, Air New Zealand flight NZ289 landed safely back into Auckland with it’s engine problem, timed to 0825 local time on July 2.
Furthermore, The Aviation Herald reports that the issue at hand was due to one of it’s Trent 1000 engines suffering a heavier reduction in oil quantity than normal.
It is understood the return back to Auckland was precautionary.
Aircraft Expected Back in Service on July 4…
Moreover, data from RadarBox shows that the aircraft has been grounded following the incident that happened over 24 hours ago.
Preliminary data is suggesting that the aircraft will be back in service on July 4.
Furthermore, it is understood it’s first flight will be once again operating the NZ289 service to Shanghai.
This is all dependent on whether the issue is fixed in time, as well as whether any additional problems arise.
No investigations by regulatory bodies have been initiated as a result of the incident at hand.
As it is a maintenance-related issue, it is unlikely to be investigated.
Air New Zealand had another incident involved with it’s Boeing 787 aircraft in Auckland back in April.
That aircraft suffered a hydraulic problem, forcing the Papeete flight to u-turn back to base.
In the same month, a passenger was injured on one of their aircraft flying from Denpasar back to the New Zealand-based airport.
Finally, more recently, two passengers were injured on an Air New Zealand Airbus A320 flying from Wellington to Queenstown due to turbulence.
All eyes turn to July 4 to see if the problems on ZK-NZD is fixed to then operate the next flight to Shanghai.
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