“Customers will be rehosted on the next available service.”

The diversion arrives days after hundreds of Queenstown Marathon runners were left stranded when flights in and out of the city Friday evening were rerouted, postponed or canceled due to strong side winds.

The Queenstown Airport website lists eight canceled or diverted arrivals and seven canceled departures on Friday evening.

Most of these flights were from Air New Zealand, although two affected arrivals and two canceled departures were with Jetstar.

An NZME reporter on board an aborted flight described their plane turning around just before reaching Queenstown and returning to Auckland.

“We apologize, but safety is paramount and we were unable to land,” said a flight attendant.

“We care and we are especially sorry for those participating in the marathon.”

Annoyed passengers on board said they had been training for six months.

Nathan Lee came from Taiwan to run the marathon with his parents.

His parents took an early flight to Queenstown, but Lee will miss the event he has trained for months for.

“They’re here right now, and I’m here trying to figure out what our next move is going to be,” Lee said.

“If you fly here and then tell me the flight is suddenly cut short…I’ve been on an 11-hour flight before, so this was the light at the end of the tunnel.”

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