Coronavirus: Lufthansa plane bids farewell flying low over Auckland

Friday, 10 April 2020

A flight taking Germans home farewells Auckland, as seen from Cornwall Park.

A Lufthansa plane taking Germans stuck in New Zealand due to coronavirus home has farewelled Auckland, flying low across the city.

Lufthansa sent 10 planes to New Zealand to take people home to Germany, with one of those flights leaving Auckland on Friday morning.

About 12,000 Germans had registered to return home on charter flights out of Auckland and Christchurch arranged by the German Embassy.

The German plane flew low over Auckland as a farewell.

Auckland Airport general manager of aeronautical commercial Scott Tasker said the Lufthansa A380 flew over the Waitematā Harbour and greater Auckland area at 9.50am.

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The flyby was a 'wonderful tribute' to the many Kiwis who have helped stranded German travellers trying to get home.

'These repatriation flights are able to happen thanks to the goodwill and efforts of a range of organisations, getting involved and playing their part,' Tasker said.

'Our team at Auckland Airport has been working hard alongside border agencies and groundhandlers for a couple of weeks now to help bring these planes in and get those people home.'

The plane is taking Germans stranded in New Zealand because of Covid-19 home,

Since the first repriation flight on Saturday, Tasker said 16 special flights have taken 6700 passengers home.

'It's an emotional time, and we're proud of our frontline staff who have done so much to help those travellers.'

A number of Aucklanders watched the plane fly over from the safety of their bubbles and took to social media to share their experiences.

'They are on their way home, nice touch with the fly over Auckland,' one person said on Twitter.

Another said it was a 'magnificent sight'.

A similar farewell took place in the sky above Christchurch earlier this week.

Upon departure from Christchurch on Monday morning, the captain of Lufthansa flight LH355 requested permission to fly over the city to thank its people for looking after stranded Germans and helping them get home, Christchurch Airport chief executive Malcolm Johns said in a Facebook post.

'Permission was granted. Some days just make you smile,' he wrote.