Passengers end up back where they started after Auckland Airport closes due to heavy rain.
As pointless exercises go, few can match the futility of enduring a 13-hour flight only to end up back exactly where you started.
But that’s what awaited those who boarded a recent 10.30am Emirates departure from Dubai bound for New Zealand, EK448 forced to turn around midway through its near 9,000-mile journey due to flooding at Auckland Airport, ending up back at Dubai International at around midnight local time.
The heavy rain hit the New Zealand capital suddenly, triggering a local state of emergency, with the airport notifying passengers and airlines that no international flights would be permitted to land until at least 7am local time on Sunday.
As well as the Dubai flight, passengers aboard an American Airlines service from Dallas Fort Worth to Auckland had a similar experience, a ten-hour jaunt at 37,000 feet before landing back in the US turned their Fridays into anything but fun.
