Police today responded to an incident at Queenstown Airport in which a note mentioning a bomb was found on a Qantas plane.
(Photo: Google Maps)
The alarm was raised after a cleaner discovered the note on a plane on the tarmac shortly before 3pm. The aircraft, a Boeing 737-800, registered as ZK-ZQG, arrived to Queenstown from Sydney, as Qantas flight QF121.
The airport terminal was evacuated following the discovery.
Aviation Security and Police have searched the plane and the airport and found no evidence of an explosive so the airport is now being reopened and will resume normal operations.
Queenstown Airport Corporation spokeswoman Jen Andrews said that during the incident two flights which were en-route from Wellington and Auckland were diverted to Christchurch and back to Auckland. The two corresponding outbound flights to Wellington and Auckland were cancelled.
“The airport is now working with airlines to expedite the turnaround of remaining flights to minimise further disruption to passengers. All evening services are running to schedule”, the airport spokeswoman added.