An engineering problem caused an Air New Zealand flight bound for Samoa to return to Auckland on Sunday. 

An issue with the aircraft’s wing flap caused flight NZ 992 to return home, the airline confirmed. 

“After the aircraft [NZ992] departed Auckland Airport on Sunday, flight NZ992 (Auckland to Apia) returned to Auckland because of engineering issues,” said Air New Zealand in an e-mailed statement. 

“There were 116 customers on that flight which have been accommodated on a special service (NZ6050) which departed Auckland at 8:10 am New Zealand time.

“While the aircraft operating yesterday’s NZ992 flight is not operating the above NZ6050 service, it is back in operation."

The airline said the affected customers were compensated. 

“Customers based locally [New Zealand] were provided with taxi vouchers, while the remainder of customers was provided accommodation for the night before this morning’s [Monday] flight," the statement said.