The Prime Minister, Christopher Luxon, is flying to Melbourne on a commercial flight Tuesday morning, after the Defence Force identified a "maintenance fault" with their Boeing 757 aircraft.
Luxon is heading to meet leaders of Southeast Asian Nations, on the sidelines of a special Australia-ASEAN summit.
He was due to fly out on a Defence Force aircraft around 6am Tuesday.
RNZ political reporter Anneke Smith was meant to be on the flight to Melbourne.
Smith spoke to Corin Dann.
