Around 40 passengers are waiting in New Zealand for their baggage to catch up with them – after their luggage was offloaded from the maiden nonstop flight from New York to Auckland.

Air New Zealand’s first flight on the 8,828-mile route from JFK airport to the nation’s largest city faced adverse weather in the eastern US.

The pilots took on extra fuel, which required them to leave some bags behind.

The decision appears to have been partly responsible for a two-hour delay in departing from New York. The aircraft made up some time and touched down in Auckland only an hour behind schedule.

Alex Marren, chief operating office for Air New Zealand, said: “Unfortunately, given additional fuel requirements due to adverse weather, some customer bags were unable to be loaded in New York.

“We are in touch with customers to update them and reunite them with their bags. We’re sorry for any inconvenience this has caused.

“We are getting them to New Zealand as soon as possible.”

The 17-hour flight is operated as NZ1 to Auckland and NZ2 to New York – the same numbers that Air New Zealand formerly used for its links to and from London Heathrow. That route was axed in 2020.

A Boeing 787 Dreamliner is used for the trip. It is one of the longest flights in the world, though slightly shorter than Singapore Airlines’ connection between its home base and New York, and the Qantas trip from London Heathrow to Perth.

The vast majority of the trip between New York and Auckland is spent crossing the Pacific Ocean.

The most direct route from New York flies southwest across the southern United States, crosses Texas and traverses Mexico to the tip of the Baja California peninsula. But the first NZ1 flew further south, crossing the Gulf of Mexico.

The eastbound flight does not have serious weight issues due to the wind assistance of the jet stream.

The link on Air New Zealand has opened up new round-the-world opportunities for British travellers, such as Manchester-New York-Auckland-Singapore-Manchester.

From June 2023, the Australian airline Qantas will compete with Air New Zealand on the route.

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