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Wild winds reaching over 90 miles per hour disrupted Air New Zealand's domestic flights today, forcing six Airbus A320s to divert back to Auckland. The flights were initially bound for Wellington, Christchurch, and Queenstown but could not land due to severe weather conditions affecting the southern parts of New Zealand.
The situation unfolded as heavy rain and strong northwest gales impacted much of the South Island and lower North Island. TVNZ 1news reported that six Air New Zealand flights from Auckland had been diverted due to the adverse weather, with two flights each intended for Wellington, Christchurch, and Queenstown.
An Air New Zealand spokesperson informed TVNZ that numerous flights departing from Wellington were canceled because of high winds. Affected passengers will be rebooked on the next available service or can reschedule via the Air New Zealand app. "Many customers traveling this evening from Wellington were also sent a proactive message this afternoon letting them know their flight could be disrupted due to the forecast weather this evening, offering the flexibility to change their flight to another day at no cost, and this could be done through the Air New Zealand app or website," stated the spokesperson.
