Airline CEO apologizes for diverting plane to pick him up by jumping on drinks cart

Air New Zealand chief executive Greg Foran jumped onto a drinks cart and served drinks to passengers on an international flight he arranged to divert to pick him up along with 30 other businessmen and government representatives.

Foran was traveling from Auckland to Tokyo for a trade conference and was flying with the rest of the delegation aboard an official government jet that meant a brief stop for fuel in Papa New Guinea when it suffered mechanical problems.

The plane suffered two blown fuses, meaning it could not fly at the high altitude to Tokyo, so most of the delegation was initially stranded in Papa New Guinea while the Prime Minister managed to make a quick exit on two commercial flights. Hong Kong.

The official jet was eventually cleared to fly at low altitude to Brisbane, where Foran arranged for a regularly scheduled Air New Zealand service from Auckland to Tokyo to make an impromptu stop to pick him and the rest of the delegation up.

Once aboard the Boeing 787 Dreamliner, Foran took to the public address system to apologize to passengers for diverting their plane, and when it was in the sky and on its way to Tokyo, Foran and airline chairperson Dame Therese Walsh jumped off. A beverage cart to help serve everyone on board.

Fortunately, it just so happened that Monday's regularly scheduled flight to Tokyo had enough spare seats for the entire delegation, although Foran and Walsh had to sit in economy class seats at the back of the plane.

According to Flight Radar 24, Air New Zealand flight NZ99 arrived from Tokyo Narita just two hours later than planned despite an unscheduled stopover in Brisbane.

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