An Air New Zealand flight from Auckland to Sydney was forced to turn around and return on Friday morning.
The airline has confirmed NZ103 turned back over the Tasman Sea and cited a problem with the Boeing 787-9's de-icing equipment.
A flight from Sydney to Auckland scheduled for Friday afternoon has also been delayed as a result.
"NZ103 Sydney to Auckland this morning returned to Auckland due to an issue with the aircraft's de-icing equipment," an Air NZ spokesperson told Newshub.
"Passengers were disembarked and the aircraft will be inspected by engineers with the service expected to depart again at 2pm.
"This will result in a delay to NZ104 out of Sydney which is now expected to depart at 4.30pm."
Air NZ is currently only flying three Auckland-Sydney services per week, one of which was the flight that departed at 9:12am on Friday.
The flight left Auckland for the second time at 2:15pm.
