{"id":88601,"date":"2026-09-05T06:51:12","date_gmt":"2026-09-05T06:51:12","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/australia\/88601\/"},"modified":"2026-09-05T06:51:12","modified_gmt":"2026-09-05T06:51:12","slug":"sydney-bound-qantas-flight-diverted-to-christchurch-after-suspected-engine-issue","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/australia\/88601\/","title":{"rendered":"Sydney\u2011bound Qantas flight diverted to Christchurch after suspected engine issue"},"content":{"rendered":"<p class=\"css-1n6q21n-StyledParagraph e4e0a020\">A Sydney-bound Qantas flight has been forced to divert after a bird strike caused a suspected engine issue shortly after taking off from Queenstown on Saturday afternoon.<\/p>\n<p class=\"css-1n6q21n-StyledParagraph e4e0a020\">QF122 departed Queenstown bound for Sydney when the alert was raised, prompting the pilots to break off the trans\u2011Tasman climb and divert to Christchurch as a precaution. <\/p>\n<p class=\"css-1n6q21n-StyledParagraph e4e0a020\">Some bystanders reported seeing flames coming from the engine. <\/p>\n<p class=\"css-178igh4-StyledParagraph e1s06mna1\">Know the news with the 7NEWS app: <a class=\"css-h2mhmv-StyledContextualLink e1s06mna0\" href=\"https:\/\/7news.com.au\/app?utm_source=7NEWS&amp;utm_medium=contextual-link-app&amp;utm_campaign=7news-app\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"nofollow noopener\">Download today Arrow<\/a><\/p>\n<p class=\"css-1n6q21n-StyledParagraph e4e0a020\">It is understood the aircraft landed safely and normally in Christchurch.<\/p>\n<p class=\"css-1n6q21n-StyledParagraph e4e0a020\">\u201cOne of our flights to Sydney experienced a suspected engine issue after take-off from Queenstown this afternoon and the aircraft diverted to Christchurch,\u201d a Qantas spokesperson said.<\/p>\n<p class=\"css-1n6q21n-StyledParagraph e4e0a020\">\u201cOur pilots are highly trained to manage situations like this and the aircraft landed safely.<\/p>\n<p><img decoding=\"async\" src=\"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/australia\/wp-content\/uploads\/2026\/09\/5896fd57c10e0d6ec473de878c528301ea18034a.jpg\" alt=\"The Qantas flight coming in to land at Christchurch.\" class=\"css-16r7l45-StyledImage en5ut4d0\" loading=\"lazy\"\/>The Qantas flight coming in to land at Christchurch. Credit: Kelly Henderson<\/p>\n<p class=\"css-1n6q21n-StyledParagraph e4e0a020\">\u201cWe know this would have been a distressing experience for passengers and will be contacting all customers to provide support.\u201d<\/p>\n<p class=\"css-1n6q21n-StyledParagraph e4e0a020\">A Civil Aviation Authority of New Zealand spokesperson said it is aware of the Qantas flight incident, blaming a bird strike for the chaos.<\/p>\n<p class=\"css-1n6q21n-StyledParagraph e4e0a020\">\u201cThe flight departed Queenstown Airport bound for Sydney and experienced a bird strike shortly after take-off,\u201d it said.<\/p>\n<p class=\"css-1n6q21n-StyledParagraph e4e0a020\">\u201cThe aircraft subsequently diverted to Christchurch and has landed safely.\u201d<\/p>\n<p class=\"css-1n6q21n-StyledParagraph e4e0a020\">It is understood that customers on the plane will be provided accommodation and directed on to alternate flights.<\/p>\n<p><a class=\"css-6fiqrm-StyledLinkWrapper e1y7kr221\" href=\"https:\/\/7news.com.au\/news\/nsw\/watch-and-act-bushfire-starts-on-nsws-central-coast-as-firefighters-work-to-bring-calga-blaze-under-control-c-22828398\" rel=\"nofollow noopener\" target=\"_blank\"><\/p>\n<p>Firefighters work to control blaze on day of total fire ban and high winds<\/p>\n<p class=\"css-xp0jgm-StyledTimeToRead e1y7kr223\">1 min read<\/p>\n<p><\/a><a class=\"css-6fiqrm-StyledLinkWrapper e1y7kr221\" href=\"https:\/\/7news.com.au\/news\/two-kids-injured-as-jumping-castle-flung-into-the-air-in-mount-duneed-c-22828452\" rel=\"nofollow noopener\" target=\"_blank\"><\/p>\n<p>Children rushed to hospital after jumping castle flung into the air<\/p>\n<p class=\"css-xp0jgm-StyledTimeToRead e1y7kr223\">1 min read<\/p>\n<p><\/a><\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"A Sydney-bound Qantas flight has been forced to divert after a bird strike caused a suspected engine issue&hellip;\n","protected":false},"author":2,"featured_media":88602,"comment_status":"","ping_status":"","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[5],"tags":[23,152,2143,19222,247,224],"class_list":["post-88601","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","category-sydney","tag-australia","tag-news","tag-qantas","tag-qantas-flights","tag-sydney","tag-travel"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/australia\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/88601","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/australia\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/australia\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/australia\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/2"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/australia\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=88601"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/australia\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/88601\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/australia\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/88602"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/australia\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=88601"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/australia\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=88601"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/australia\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=88601"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}