Representational Image. AFP
Dubai: A little more than 13 hours after takeoff, passengers on an Emirates aircraft to Auckland, New Zealand, which departed Dubai on Friday morning, arrived at the same airport.
According to Flight Aware and Business Insider, flight EK448 took off at 10:30 a.m. local time, turned around roughly halfway through the approximately 9,000-mile voyage, and landed back in Dubai at around midnight on Saturday.
Due to extreme floods, Auckland Airport was forced to close at the beginning of the weekend.
The airport issued a statement on Saturday afternoon local time saying, “Auckland Airport has been evaluating the damage to our international terminal and regrettably determined that no international flights can operate today.”
“Although we recognise how aggravating this is, passenger safety is our main concern,” said the airport management.
International flights would restart Sunday morning, according to airport officials, who announced this on Saturday night local time after domestic flights had begun.
Emirates apologised for the difficulty it caused its passengers in a statement to Business Insider. Emirates will keep an eye on the situation in Auckland and provide updates as necessary.
The new arrival time for flight 448 was moved from Sunday afternoon local time in Auckland to Saturday morning Dubai time.
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