Thousands of travellers affected by Air New Zealand disruptions

Air New Zealand has had to cancel and reschedule dozens of international flights, causing disruptions to thousands of passengers.

Fifteen flights have been cancelled during the next week to make way for unforeseen maintenance ordered by safety regulators.

Earlier this week, the airline released a statement on ASX that said they were working closely with engine manufacturer Rolls-Royce on a global issue involving some of the Trent 1000 engines that power its Boeing 787-9 Dreamliner fleet.

According to TVNZ, around 6500 Air NZ passengers have or will be affected in the next week.

“Air New Zealand is doing all it can to minimise the impact of these unforeseen checks on customers and is also working to secure lease aircraft to help with additional capacity,” the airline said on its website.

“Customers impacted by the changes will be contacted directly by Air New Zealand or by the travel agent they booked through.”

The checks should be completed tonight, but it is not yet clear when the backlog of passengers will be cleared.

TVNZ reports engineers are checking for cracks near the front of the engine compressors which the airline says could be caused by vibrations from turbulence.