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Qantas passengers were taken on a three-hour flight to nowhere this morning when the aircraft was forced to return to Auckland due to a technical issue.

Qantas flight QF120 departed Auckland International Airport at 6.18am but instead of landing in Brisbane around 3.5 hours later, returned to Auckland after 3 hours and 13 minutes.

A Qantas spokesperson told the Herald technical issues forced the flight to turn back to Auckland, where it landed at 9.30am.

The Boeing 737-800 was one hour into the flight, cruising at around 36,000 feet when it started turning back, according to data from FlightAware. It was another two hours before the flight landed at Auckland. During this time, the aircraft completed large circles at about 20,000 feet.

People following the flight online quickly took notice of the aircraft circling.

“Are these guys OK?” one person asked, posting a photo of the aircraft’s flight path to social media platform Reddit.

A replacement flight departed at 10.30am according to FlightAware and is scheduled to arrive three and a half hours later, just before midday AEST. There are no further disruptions to the schedule, with the next flight booked to depart Auckland International Airport at 6.25am tomorrow.

A flight can be diverted for many reasons and either return to the departing airport or emergency landing somewhere else.

In February, an Air New Zealand flight diverted to the Pacific island of Guam due to an “unidentified odour” in the cabin, and in April another Air New Zealand flight returned to Auckland after departing to Tahiti due to an issue with the aircraft’s hydraulic systems. In this instance, the airline knew it had a better chance of solving the issue in Auckland.

It isn’t unusual for a diverted flight to circle around a city before landing. In January, a Qantas flight from Christchurch to Melbourne was forced to fly four circles above Raglan before it could land at Auckland Airport.

Qantas has been approached for further comment.