Passengers on an Emirates flight bound for Auckland, New Zealand that left Dubai Friday morning ended up landing back at the same airport where it took off a little more than 13 hours later.
Flight EK448 left at 10:30 am local time. According to FlightAware/Business Insider, the pilot turned almost halfway on the nearly 9,000-mile journey. He landed back in Dubai shortly before midnight Saturday.
Auckland Airport was forced to close at the start of the weekend due to severe flooding.
“Auckland Airport has been assessing the damage to our international terminal and unfortunately determined that no international flights can operate today,” the airport said in a statement on Saturday afternoon local time. “We know this is extremely frustrating but the safety of passengers is our top priority.”
After domestic flights had resumed on Saturday night, airport officials announced that international flights would resume the following morning.
Emirates said in a statement to Business Insider, “We regret the inconvenience caused to customers. Emirates will continue to monitor the situation in Auckland and issue updates where required.”
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