The Prime Minister and her travelling party to Antarctica have had to spend an extra night at Scott Base after the aircraft she was due to fly back on broke down on the runway.
A spokesperson for Jacinda Ardern said she was now due to fly back to New Zealand later this morning on an Italian Hercules.
Her new flight is scheduled to land back in New Zealand at 6pm tonight.
It's the second hiccup for the Prime Minister on her trip to the ice after her initial flight to the continent was forced to make a u-turn due to poor weather conditions.
Ardern travelled to Antarctica to celebrate 65 years of Scott Base which her Government recently supported with a $344million redevelopment injection.
"The proposal for the redevelopment of Scott Base has come to us and crossed our desk, and we have made the commitment because New Zealand's connection to Antarctica is deep and longstanding."
It's not the first time our ageing aircraft have left a New Zealand Prime Minister stranded while travelling abroad.
In 2016, then prime minister John Key's trip to India, as part of a trade delegation, was stalled in Townsville, Australia, after a 757 failed to take off twice due to mechanical issues.
In 2019 the current PM was left temporarily stranded, once again, in Australia, when the 757 set to take Ardern and members of the media home from Melbourne couldn't take off due to an aircraft computer error.
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