Air New Zealand flight turns back after pressure issue

On Sunday morning, an Air New Zealand flight, identified as NZ338, during its 13-minute flight, experienced a minor discrepancy in the cabin pressure after departing from Christchurch to Wellington at 8:35 AM.

Image: Noah Stohr-Waldren

On Sunday 23rd of July, an Air New Zealand Flight operating from Christchurch (NZCH/CHC) to Wellington (NZWN/WLG) as NZ338 experienced a pressurization issue. As a result, at around 8:55 AM the pilots of the six-year-old Airbus A320 made the decision to turn back and land at Christchurch.

While descending down from their cruise altitude of 21,000ft to 10,000ft the aircraft reached a maximum of -5,200 feet per minute (fpm).

Screenshot from Flightradar24

While the airline confirmed that the incident was not an emergency, they did assure that passengers were accommodated on other flights. At this time, details regarding the cause of the issue have not been disclosed.

Rest assured that there is no cause for concern regarding the Airbus A320, and the aircraft, ZK-OXM returned to service the next day flying from Christchurch to Wellington as NZ332.

Image: Noah Stohr-Waldren

The isolated incident related to cabin pressure was an anomaly and not indicative of any ongoing safety issues. Therefore, you can confidently board this aircraft without any fear of this happening again.