Fog restrictions at Auckland Airport finally lifted
Thursday, 10 May 2018
Heavy fog that caused domestic flights to be cancelled and delayed at Auckland Airport has finally lifted and restrictions removed.
Airport Airport authorities said that fog restrictions put in place at 03:20am today were lifted at 11:35am.
Approximately 34 domestic flights were delayed and 44 domestic flights were cancelled, due to the fog. One international flight from Bali was diverted to Melbourne airport.
Queues dozens of people deep snaked through the Air New Zealand domestic departure area on Thursday morning as people waited to hear what their options were.
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Sharon Austen and daughter Lauren drove up from Thames at 5am for a 7.55am flight to Blenheim. The pair were headed down for a half marathon this weekend.
When they were stuck in traffic on the motorway in the thick of the fog they received a text message to say their flight had been cancelled.
They were hopeful the flight they'd been re-booked on - at 9.30am - would be able to depart
'So far, touch wood, it's all good,' Austen said.
It had been a long night for Nelson resident Jean Edwards.
Edwards landed in Auckland at 6.30am on an overnight flight from Perth.
They were already an hour late due to the bad weather in Auckland.
Edwards was scheduled to transfer on to Nelson, but instead had spent the morning waiting in queues.
'We're like the walking asleep.'
Her holiday had been plagued with airline problems - first her flight to Perth held up due to mechanical reasons, leaving them sitting on the plane for two hours, before they were advised the aircraft's food containers were not loaded so they would go without a meal on the seven-hour flight. To come back to this was 'appalling'.
Edwards said people understand delays due to weather, but that waiting such a long time to speak with anyone, when only one attendant was on the desk, was frustrating.
'[Air New Zealand] need to be making more of an effort under circumstances like these,' she said.
Lee Nurse moved to Auckland from the UK just three weeks ago for work.
He was due to fly to Palmerston North on business at 7.30am on Thursday, but his flight had been cancelled.
Nurse had been re-booked onto a 10.15am flight and was able to work remotely in the meantime, so his early morning start was not for nothing.
He hadn't heard anything since as to whether the new flight would be leaving.
'We'll just have to wait and see.'
Some regional flights were being replaced by bus services.
Flights to Wellington, Christchurch, Dunedin and Queenstown had not been affected by the fog.
The fog slowed things down on Auckland roads as well this morning.
An NZTA spokesperson said traffic was 'a bit heavier than usual' northbound on the southern motorway (Manukau to Greenlane) and northbound on the southern motorway through the Manukau area.
'However it's difficult to gauge whether there is actually additional volume or simply slower movement due to fog, which is a normal outcome of fog,' the spokesperson said.
Driving in the city was reported to be particularly slow, with visibility so bad everyone was going at a 'snail's pace'.
MetService meteorologist Matthew Ford said there was fog in quite a few places overnight, including Auckland, Whenuapai and Hamilton.
'Basically overnight most of the country was underneath a narrow ridge of high pressure,' Ford said.
'There has been quite a lot of high cloud coming across, but it was clear enough at the beginning of the evening for fog to get started in a lot of places. In the South Island it looks like a lot of places that went into fog have cleared up.'
Late autumn was a classic time of year for fog. There had been a little bit of moist air, then plenty of time during the long night for it to cool down.
Christchurch had a period of fog overnight but appeared to be clear around 5am. Other places that dropped in and out of mist or foggy conditions included Kerikeri, Palmerston North and Oamaru.