Five flights across the country were delayed and others were grounded following a power outage affecting air traffic control this afternoon.
Air traffic service provider Airways New Zealand “experienced a disruption to its main oceanic air traffic control system which temporarily disrupted air traffic services operating across the Tasman”, CEO James Young told 1News in a statement.
“At 4.30pm, the main oceanic air traffic control system experienced an outage and operations were switched to a back-up system. During this time, flight plans for the Tasman sector were unable to be processed through the system, causing delays.”
Five flights were held in the air as a result, Young said – “three of which were diverted back to New Zealand after holding for around 40 minutes, with the remaining two flights proceeding to their destination after holding”.
“Flights were also held on the ground in both Australia and New Zealand during this time.
“The main system was restored at 5.05pm with normal operations resuming by 5.30pm.”
Young said a full technical review is now underway to determine the cause of the outage.
“Our main priority is the safety of the travelling public and we apologise to all customers and their passengers who were affected.”
A Jetstar spokesperson told 1News one flight from Dunedin and another from Christchurch “returned to refuel due to a short air traffic control outage earlier”.
“There is no further disruption.”
A Queenstown Airport spokesperson confirmed “some flights” were delayed but none were cancelled or diverted.
“All flights have now resumed, and things are back to normal.”
A spokesperson for the Civil Aviation Authority told 1News a technical fault in the main Operational Control System (OCS) platform “temporarily disrupted air traffic services across several sectors”.
“The issue has since been resolved, and Oceania airspace is now open.
“The Civil Aviation Authority continues to monitor the situation closely. In line with our safety oversight responsibilities, we will be following up with Airways New Zealand regarding the cause of the outage as part of our normal regulatory activities.”
