Today’s New Zealand Herald newspaper reports that the Lan Chile Airbus A340 flying from Santiago, Chile, to Auckland, New Zealand, on Tuesday night came close to being hit “by blazing pieces of a Russian satellite hurtling into New Zealand airspace. The disintegrating satellite was so close to the aircraft that the pilot could hear the roar it made as it broke the sound barrier.…At the aircraft’s cruising speed of 880km/h it was within about 40 seconds of a potential catastrophe.”
On board the plane, asleep and unaware of this drama, were Neil Tennant and Chris Lowe and the entire Pet Shop Boys touring party. Lan Chile flight 801 left Santiago late on Monday evening and, crossing the International Date Line, arrived safely at Auckland at 4 am on Wednesday morning.
Pet Shop Boys perform their debut New Zealand concert tonight at the St James Theatre, Auckland.
PSB plane “40 seconds from air disaster”
Thanks to Chicarica, our support band at both shows in Santiago. I’m enjoying their beautiful album “Invierno en la playa”. Neil x
Recent News
Pet Shop Boys today release on Blu-ray/2CD their concert film “Dreamworld: The Greatest Hits Live at the Royal Arena Copenhagen”, which is now available to buy exclusively through the official store.
After a magical evening at Viña del Mar, Pet Shop Boys have decided to perform a special club show at Teatro Caupolicán in Santiago at 9 pm on Saturday, February 28.
MUSIK, the acclaimed one-woman show starring Frances Barber, written by Jonathan Harvey with songs by PSB, is coming to cinemas across the UK on April 9 and 12 for a special big-screen release.
Featuring a new introduction by Jon Savage, the paperback edition of One Hundred Lyrics and a Poem by Neil Tennant will be published by Faber & Faber on 26 March.
200 hand-signed copies by Neil are available to purchase now via the link below, limited to one book per customer.
Pet Shop Boys are pleased to announce a series of Dreamworld shows across Europe this summer.
Celebrating 40 years since Pet Shop Boys’ first worldwide hit “West End girls”, this new T‑shirt is part of the PSB “Since 1984” range, designed by Farrow.
Pet Shop Boys are pleased to announce that their concert film, “Dreamworld: The Greatest Hits Live at the Royal Arena Copenhagen”, will be released on Blu-ray and 2CD on Friday, 27th February 2026.