Air New Zealand flight to Auckland diverted to Melbourne due to troublesome passenger

An Air New Zealand flight bound for Auckland, New Zealand from Perth, Australia was forced to divert after a passenger began interfering with the aircraft.

WELLINGTON, New Zealand – An Air New Zealand flight en route to Auckland, New Zealand, from Perth, Australia, was forced to divert on Wednesday morning after a passenger began interfering with the flight, the airline said.

Instead, the plane landed in the Australian city of Melbourne, where police officers were waiting for it. The flight continued to Auckland after a 90-minute delay, Air New Zealand said in a statement.

The operator did not provide further details about the incident.

“Our crew handled the incident well, but incidents like this are troubling for our customers and our employees, and we do not tolerate this type of behavior on our aircraft,” airline spokesman David Morgan said.

The diversion comes less than a week after another Air New Zealand flight was delayed on the tarmac for two hours when it arrived at its destination Sydney after what the airline called a safety incident. Local news outlets reported a bomb threat.

“There was no threat to the public,” Australian Federal Police said on Saturday.