Airline apologizes after passengers' luggage was left behind to make room for extra fuel on a flight

• Some Air New Zealand travelers' bags were left off the carrier's first flight from New York to Auckland.
• The bags were offloaded to make room for extra fuel on the 17-hour flight.

Air New Zealand has apologized after around 40 passengers' bags were left behind during the airline's first flight from New York to Auckland.

The bags were offloaded to make room for extra fuel on the 17-hour flight, The Independent reported.

The September 17 flight from JFK to New Zealand's largest city traveled around 8,843 miles, according to FlightAware data, making it the fourth longest route in the world.

The chief operating officer for Air New Zealand, Alex Marren, told The Independent: "Unfortunately, given additional fuel requirements due to adverse weather, some customer bags were unable to be loaded in New York.

"We are in touch with customers to update them and reunite them with their bags. We're sorry for any inconvenience this has caused. We are getting them to New Zealand as soon as possible."

Air New Zealand did not immediately respond to Insider's request for comment made outside of normal working hours.

Insider's Taylor Rains flew business class on Air New Zealand's maiden flight from JFK to Auckland. She reported that the flight was delayed by about two hours due to air-traffic control issues. There were also adverse weather conditions while flying over Mexico, she added.

Despite these delays, the flight still landed at 8.30 a.m., only 50 minutes behind schedule.

In June 2023, Australian airline Qantas is due to launch a competing route between the country and New Zealand.