Low cloud stalls flights in and out of Nelson
Low cloud caused by the change in weather has affected the travel plans of passengers flying in and out of Nelson.
After a prolonged dry spell over December and January, some much needed rain descended on the Nelson region this week.
In the 12 hours to noon yesterday, 16mm of rain fell in Richmond and on the Waimea Plains,18.5mm at Founders Park in Nelson and 34.5mm at the Takaka-Kotinga measuring site.
However, the resulting low cloud and fog has caused issues at Nelson Airport on Monday evening and into yesterday, including several inbound flights being turned around.
Yesterday morning, at least one inbound flight from Auckland was cancelled at Nelson Airport along with several departing flights to Wellington and Auckland.
Services were running on schedule by 10am. However, there were further fog-related disruptions around 12pm with some flights delayed for up to an hour.
In a social media post yesterday, Nelson Airport asked all passengers to check with their airline in relation to the status of their scheduled flights.
One passenger returning from Sunday’s Elton John concert in Auckland said her Air New Zealand flight from Auckland to Nelson on Monday evening was turned around due to low cloud.
‘‘We must have been getting close to Nelson, then it came over the speaker that we were heading back to Auckland – apparently other flights were being diverted to Blenheim but we were unable to because the apron was full.’’
Passengers were able to rebook a flight back to Nelson for no extra cost but had to pay for an additional night’s accommodation in Auckland.
Air New Zealand external communications manager Anna Cross confirmed that one flight from Christchurch to Nelson and one flight from Auckland to Nelson were diverted to Blenheim on Monday due to low cloud at Nelson Airport.
Another flight from Wellington to Nelson was returned to Wellington.
‘‘Customers have been accommodated on alternative services,’’ she said.
The female passenger took a flight to Blenheim yesterday morning before returning to Nelson in the afternoon.
She said there were a number of other passengers who had also been to Sunday’s concert who were also left stranded by the travel disruption, having only seen ‘‘half a concert’’ at Mt Smart.
John cut short his Sunday night concert after the effects of a walking pneumonia diagnosis left him barely able to sing.
As a result, the Madman Across The Water singer’s concert yesterday was rescheduled to today. As a gesture of goodwill, Air New Zealand offered affected customers the opportunity to defer travel plans by one day without cost. Customers who no longer wished to travel can also the hold the value of their fare in credit for up to 12 months.