The flight, operated by a Boeing 747-200, was making a scheduled refuelling stop while en route from Tokyo Narita to Auckland.

Flight TE24 was en route to Auckland from Tokyo when it made a scheduled refuelling stop in Nadi.

[1] TE24 was standing on the tarmac refueling when Ahmjed Ali, armed with dynamite explosives from a gold mine, boarded the aircraft.

Ahmjed Ali, then aged 37, an ethnic Indian who worked as a refueler for Air Terminal Services, entered the flight deck and told to the captain that he was carrying dynamite and would blow up the aircraft if his demands were not met.

Captain Graham Gleeson, flight engineer Graeme Walsh, and first officer Michael McLeay[3] remained with Ali in the cockpit.