Trans-Tasman air traffic control outage

The story so far

Several Australia-bound flights were seen circling off the coast, and passengers on a Wellington to Brisbane flight were told Oceania airspace was not accepting aircraft, so the plane was diverted back to Wellington.^{16 Aug 2025} Some aircraft were forced into holding patterns, others were diverted or grounded, and five domestic flights were delayed or grounded.^{16, 17 Aug 2025} The outage was reportedly caused by an extremely rare software fault.^{17 Aug 2025}

Latest

Airways NZ is investigating the cause, and a full review of the outage is under way.^{17 Aug 2025}

What's next

The stories give no timeline for when the review or investigation will be completed.^{16, 17 Aug 2025}

Key moments

1. 16 Aug 2025Passengers told Oceania airspace not accepting aircraft; Wellington-Brisbane flight diverted back
2. 16 Aug 2025Oceanic air traffic control outage disrupts trans-Tasman services Saturday night
3. 17 Aug 2025Extremely rare software fault identified as cause of outage

Written from the stories below; each sentence links to its sources.