German airline Lufthansa bid farewell to New Zealand with a low flight over Auckland this morning as it left to take home Germans who've been stranded here due to the Covid-19 pandemic.
Lufthansa A380 flight DH357 completed a flyby over the Waitemata Harbour and greater Auckland about 9.50am.
Auckland Airport’s General Manager of Aeronautical Commercial Scott Tasker said they flyby was "a wonderful tribute" to the many Kiwis who had helped stranded German travellers trying to get home.
"These repatriation flights are able to happen thanks to the goodwill and efforts of a range of organisations, getting involved and playing their part.
"Since the first repatriation flight last Saturday, we’ve had 16 of these special flights with a range of chartered carriers carrying 6700 passengers home."
Mr Tasker gave credit to his team at Auckland Airport who had been working alongside border agencies and groundhandlers for weeks to help bring these planes in and get people home.
"It’s an emotional time, and we’re proud of our frontline staff who have done so much to help those travellers," he said.
Lufthansa Group Airlines has been running a schedule of 12 repatriation flights from Auckland Airport and Christchurch Airport to Germany, Switzerland and Austria.
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