Malaysia Airlines flight 132 is finally on its way to Kuala Lumpur after being delayed for more than 48 hours in Auckland.
Passengers were stranded at Auckland Airport this weekend after the flight was delayed again, and again because of a mechanical fault.
MH132's initial departure time of 12.55am on Saturday was delayed until Sunday at 7.55am, then 3pm then 7pm, before being delayed further to midnight.
At 1.30 this morning the plane finally left the terminal, an Auckland Airport staff member confirmed.
At that point passengers had been waiting two days and 35 minutes to leave.
The plane was flying over Australia's Northern Territory at 6.30am according to Flight Radar.
The airline was not able to offer accommodation to passengers during the wait because everything was booked up for Adele, the father of one passenger told the New Zealand Herald.
Teeseang Tan's daughter, Adeleine, was one of the stranded passengers, but he said she was lucky because she could stay with him in Auckland while she waited.
Other passengers were not so fortunate, with a group of Malaysian tourists in their 50s forced to sleep on chairs in the airport's KFC.
"I asked them were you offered accommodation and food, they said no,'' Mr Tan said on Saturday evening.
"They're not taking care of the passengers and not looking after us. If they know there's going to be a long delay they should supply passengers with accommodation.''
No accommodation had been offered to passengers despite the major delay, just two $20 vouchers to buy food and drink, he said.
''[The airline] said accommodation is full because of Adele's concert.''
