Air New Zealand regional flights delayed by IT glitch nationwide

Air New Zealand’s nationwide fleet of ATR 72 planes was grounded this morning due to an IT glitch.

The airline has confirmed there was an issue that impacted the “take-off software” for the regional planes.

One man at Tauranga Airport, who asked not to be named said his flight had been delayed by at least an hour.

“It’s nationwide, the entire fleet,” he said.

Air NZ staff told him: “Nothing is going to move until the IT issue is fixed,” he said.

The man said he had been waiting for the shutdown to end for the last hour and a half.

“They’re just starting the engines now.

“If they get things going ... we should be away.”

He was flying from Tauranga to Auckland and then onto Fiji for a holiday.

Air New Zealand chief operational integrity and safety officer David Morgan confirmed there was an issue impacting the short-haul regional airliners, causing “minor delays”.

“This morning the airline has experienced an issue with the software pilots require for take-off performance calculations on our ATR aircraft.

“There is a solution currently rolling out across the network, and flights have begun to depart. This issue may result in some delays to the ATR network this morning.”

Morgan thanked customers for their patience and advised them to keep an eye out for updates.

The CAA is aware of the software issue which impacted some support information for pilots, a spokesperson said.

“This did not affect the ATR aircraft itself.

“A solution was rolled out earlier today and Air New Zealand will supply a report to the CAA in due course.”

The ATR 72 is a twin-engine turboprop, short-haul regional airliner used across the world.

Jaime Lyth is a multimedia journalist for the New Zealand Herald, focusing on crime and breaking news. Lyth began working under the NZ Herald masthead in 2021 as a reporter for the Northern Advocate in Whangārei.