Malaysia Airlines MH132 flew in the wrong direction across the south of Australia after a reported flight plan mix-up for a Christmas day flight from Auckland to Kuala Lumpur.
Eight minutes into the flight, the pilot noticed the Airbus A330 headed further south than expected and queried the route. He continued across the Tasman Sea before heading northwest to Kuala Lumpur after discussions with air traffic controllers at the Auckland Oceanic control centre revealed the mix-up, according to the New Zealand Herald.
Auckland air traffic control center was "inadvertently given an earlier flight plan", differing from the flight plan given to the pilot by the airline's Operations Dispatch Centre (ODC). "Both routes were following an approved flight path and the aircraft had enough fuel for both routes," a Malaysia Airlines statement said, according to The Sidney Morning Herald.
New Zealand aviation commentator, Peter Clark, said that although planes sometimes take a southern route across Australia to avoid head-winds, this particular pilot was "probably not used to going that far south."
"The pilot has done a very good job by noticing it, querying it and not just blindly flying off and ending up in the Southern Ocean," Clark added, according to the Daily Mail.
Malaysia Airlines also said in the statement, "The safety of both passengers and crew were never compromised at any time," according to the New Zealand Herald.
Earlier this year Malaysia Airlines appointed German airline executive Christoph Mueller as its chief executive, following a string of disasters that include the March 2014 disappearance of flight MH370 and four months later the shooting down of flight MH17 over Ukraine.
