The 11-hour flight to nowhere: Air NZ service to Chicago turned back due to 'technical' issue

An Air New Zealand flight to Chicago has had to return to Auckland overnight because of a technical issue. Flight NZ26 departed around 8.40pm on Wednesday and was around four hours into the 15-hour flight when it turned around and headed back to Auckland, a Flightradar24 map shows. The Boeing 787-9 Dreamliner landed at 7.30am on Thursday – with the round trip taking just under 11 hours. An Air New Zealand spokesperson said the flight was forced to turn back to address a technical requirement which was identified en route. “This has resulted in the cancellation of this service, as further inspection had to be carried out on the aircraft, on landing,” the spokesperson said. “All customers have now been rebooked on the next available service. We thank customers for their patience while we work quickly to return the aircraft to operation.”<br/>