An Air New Zealand plane en route to Rarotonga has been forced to return to Auckland shortly after takeoff after it was struck by lightning, the Herald understands.

Passengers, surely looking forward to enjoying the Cook Islands sun, endured about an hour of the plane circling over Tāwharanui before heading back to Auckland, a city beset with rain.

Flight NZ942 turned around off the coast of Tāwharanui Peninsula in north Auckland after circling around about seven times.

The plane took off about 6am and started circling about 30 minutes into the flight.

It landed back in Auckland about 8am.

The Herald has approached Air New Zealand for comment.

The aircraft was an Airbus A321-271NX.

It wasn’t the first international Air New Zealand flight that had to return to Auckland this week - a damaged pilot’s windscreen forced a plane headed to Japan to turn around miles above the Pacific Ocean on Monday.

Passengers on flight ANZ99, from Auckland to Tokyo, learnt their plane would have to go back to New Zealand as it passed near Vanuatu.

Air New Zealand’s chief operational integrity and safety officer David Morgan said flight NZ99 returned to Auckland so the plane could be repaired.

Morgan said aircraft windows are made of multiple layers to withstand any damage - but the plane had to return to Auckland as part of the airline’s standard operating procedure.

A passenger on the plane told the Herald a pilot made an in-flight announcement saying there was an issue with the aircraft which could only be fixed in Auckland.

“Getting turned around to go back home three hours in an eleven-hour flight is not ideal,” the passenger said.