A Hawaiian Airlines flight took off in 2018 and is due to land in 2017 as a result of time zone differences, leading some observers to worry about the stability of the space-time continuum.

A reporter for the Los Angeles-based ABC 7 News, Sam Sweeney, tweeted on New Year's Eve (Dec 31) that the flight HA446, meant to depart Auckland, New Zealand at 11.55pm local time, had been delayed by 10 minutes.

This meant it would be leaving New Zealand at 12.05am, Jan 1, 2018, but land in Honolulu, Hawaii, at 10.15am on Dec 31.

Honolulu goes by GMT-10 time, while Auckland goes by GMT+13, which could explain the "time travelling".

Mr Sweeney's tweet has gone viral with more than 9,000 retweets and 19,000 likes.

Many responded with gifs from 1985 science fiction film Back To The Future, or memes to express bewilderment.

Many countries have already rung in the new year, with celebrations rippling across the globe from New Zealand, Australia and Singapore to parts of the United States.