Almost all flights cancelled to and from Auckland as New Zealand braces for cyclone

Air NZ, Qantas and Jetstar have cancelled flights to and from New Zealand’s busiest airport as Cyclone Gabrielle brings wild weather.

Almost all flights in and out of Auckland on Monday have been cancelled in response to Cyclone Gabrielle.

New Zealand’s busiest airport remained open but the arrivals and departures board quickly turned red with cancelled flights.

Air New Zealand made the decision to cancel all domestic flights in and out of Auckland Airport and cancel all flights to and from Australia on Monday.

Some long-haul flights were also cancelled with a warning that those operating may need to divert to another airport.

On Monday afternoon, the airline confirmed 509 flights had been cancelled, which impacted more than 29,000 customers.

“Because flights are very full, some customers may receive a notification saying they won’t depart for up to 20 days after their original booking,” Air New Zealand’s chief customer and sales officer Leanne Geraghty said, speaking of the 10,000 international customers who were disrupted.

“We want to assure those customers we now have teams working to get them on an earlier flight – it’s our top priority.”

Almost all flights in and out of Auckland have been cancelled. Picture: Auckland Airport

An update on Twitter just after midday said Air NZ intended to “resume domestic and international jet operations from mid-morning Tuesday” and “turboprop operations from mid-afternoon”, based on current weather forecasts.

The airline said it was adding larger aircraft to routes, converting cargo flights to passenger flights, and adding additional services where possible.

One person responded to Air NZ’s tweet saying he had been “stranded in Houston with no information” for more than 24 hours.

Another person said they were “stranded in Tokyo” and had zero communication from Air NZ for the same amount of time.

Air NZ responded to both tweets asking for the customers to direct message them on the platform.

Please continue to bear with us as we navigate the disruption #CycloneGabrielle has caused 💜 With over 500 flight cancellations impacting more than 29,000 customers, we’re doing everything we can to get those disrupted back into the skies as quickly as possible. (1/4) pic.twitter.com/nRr7UCT8QF

— Air New Zealand ✈️ (@FlyAirNZ) February 13, 2023

Earlier, customers were asked to refrain from calling the company as it deals with the chaos and said the airline would contact them directly.

Air New Zealand chief operational integrity and safety officer Captain David Morgan warned on Sunday of further flight cancellations “given that the trajectory and strength of Cyclone Gabrielle is fluid.”

“Our priority is the safety of our customers, staff and infrastructure and we will only operate flights if it’s safe to do so,” he said.

Jetstar and Qantas also confirmed to news.com.au all flights to and from Auckland Airport on Monday were cancelled due to the impact of the cyclone.

Significant flight cancellations at Auckland Airport today.
•85/104 international flights cancelled
•301/301 domestic flights cancelled
Please check with your airline for updates on your flight.
Stay safe Auckland.

— Auckland Airport (@AKL_Airport) February 13, 2023

At about 1.20pm, Auckland Airport tweeted an update on the “significant flight cancellations”.

It said 85 of 104 international flights were cancelled and all 301 domestic flights were cancelled.

The airport urged anyone planning to travel over the next two days to watch carefully for updates from their airline or travel agent.

The latest weather disruptions come just weeks after the international terminal was flooded and flights were grounded due to record rainfall. Picture: Twitter

The airport asked people with cancelled or delayed flights to get in touch with airlines directly through online channels rather than visiting the airport to re-book travel.

It said shopping and dining in the terminals would operate as normal.

The latest weather disruptions come just a fortnight after international flights to and from Auckland resumed following major flooding.

Record rain caused parts of the international terminal to turn into a lake on January 27, grounding all flights and leaving travellers stranded.

Auckland Airport chief executive Carrie Hurihanganui said airport volunteers handed out hot food, snacks and blankets to those who couldn’t find a place to stay overnight.

The main problem this time around was not expected to be flooding, Air NZ chief executive Greg Foran told local media.

“I think what we saw two weeks ago was an extraordinary event. And I think they caught everyone by surprise but you know, I can tell you there’s been a lot of work done over the last two weeks in particular the last five days,” he said.

He said the main problem would be crosswinds and surface water on the runway.

Air New Zealand chief executive Greg Foran. Picture: Hannah Peters/Getty Images

Pilots are worried about the lack of information about surface conditions at the runway, where an Air NZ hit landing lights in monsoon-like conditions on January 27, NZ Herald reported.

The NZ Air Line Pilots Association said the airport does not have the ability to accurately measure the water depth on the runway surface.

“Given pilots are not provided with accurate runway contaminate measurements (at any airport in NZ currently), if rain is falling at the airfield and the runway is being reported as ‘wet’ then NZALPA suggest pilots carefully consider what assumptions they use to determine aircraft performance,” it has warned its members.

Speaking on New Zealand radio station Newstalk ZB, Mr Forgan explained why some long-haul flights were cancelled and others were still due to arrive Monday morning.

“And the reason that we can’t do them all if they do have to divert, you have to work out where you’re going to put them and work out how many hotel rooms you’re going to need. Then you’ve got to work out how you’re going to get those people back from wherever you’ve diverted them,” he said.

“It’s a measured approach and what we try and do here is thread a needle.”

It could take weeks to recover the schedule from flights that had to be diverted while non-stop domestic schedules take a day to restore.

“Sorting out Christchurch is literally a day, other ones if we don’t do anything are upwards of 15 to 20 days,” Mr Foran told ZB.

- with NZ Herald