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The Beech 1900D aircraft, operated by Eagle Airways. - Source: Eagle Airways website -
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Dozens of domestic flights have been cancelled and delayed this morning following the discovery of cracks on some Eagle Air planes.
Engineers from the Air New Zealand subsidiary worked through the night to inspect 18 Beech 1900D aircraft after hairline cracks were found on three of them.
Four planes have now been inspected and fully cleared to return to regional services.
However, the airline said up to 1000 passengers may be inconvenienced by schedule changes.
At 9.30am, 25 domestic flights had been cancelled including to Gisborne, Blenheim, Tauranga and the Bay of Islands. And five domestic flights had been delayed.
Other aircraft from the Air New Zealand fleet will support the
airline in order to minimise disruption.
The Beech 1900D have been in service since October 2001, and have
an average age of 10.5 years. The airline operates 18 of the planes
that fly to 20 destinations around New Zealand.