A flight from Doha has touched down in Auckland overnight after a week of travel “chaos” sparked by air strikes in the Middle East.
An attack on a US airbase in Qatar on Sunday prompted the government to temporarily close its airspace.
A tentative ceasefire reached this week appeared to hold, allowing flights to resume.
Scott Walmsley from Ireland was on flight QR920 from Doha this morning. He told 1News he was in a hotel when explosions rang out.
“I was sitting on the bed, and I heard four to five bangs. I felt the room kind of vibrate, and then a siren. And I thought it was doors closing in the doorway, but 10 minutes later I looked on Google and saw what happened, so we were all in a bit of a shock.
“That’s how I became aware of the whole situation.”
Walmsley said he made friends with a bunch of people who reassured one another “we’re all in this together, we’re all safe”.
“And it was the unknown was the scariest thing… We didn’t know we were all waiting in the lobby in reception just wondering what was going on.”
‘A bit of chaos’
The first flight from Doha to NZ arrived in Auckland this morning. (Source: 1News)
Passenger Zane Berghuis said he was meant to arrive in Auckland two days ago, before travel disruptions changed his plans.
“I think it was quite scary for a moment in Doha, you know, not knowing what was going to come next.
“But it’s not the worst airport in the world to be stuck in. And there was a bit of chaos but there were a few of us who banded together and had a really supported time there.”
He said he knew about tensions in the Middle East while travelling, but his connection in Doha was only meant to be 50 minutes.
“Once obviously the missiles were fired, that was a little bit different. I was actually out in the city when the missiles were coming overhead. I didn’t see them personally, but other people in the Gold Shop where I was showed me videos of what was happening out there.”
He said he was lucky to have found his “zen” when exploring the airport, but witnessed others “shouting at desks, and lines that went on forever”.
Another passenger, Oisik Das from Sweden said he witnessed some “very stressed” people trying to rebook flights that had been cancelled following the closed airspaces.
“Some people had to wait for 12 hours in the line. There were people venting, people fighting, people crying in the lines,” he said.