Today, wild winds with gusts in excess of 90 miles per hour played havoc with domestic flights in the southern parts of New Zealand. Six Air New Zealand flights left Auckland but were unable to land at Wellington, Christchurch and Queenstown airports, with all being diverted back to Auckland. Wild weather forces six A320s to divert The drama unfolded as heavy rain and severe northwest gales lashed much of New Zealand's South Island and the lower parts of the North Island.
This evening, TVNZ 1news reported that six Air New Zealand flights from Auckland had been diverted due to the wild weather, with two flights each bound for Wellington, Christchurch and Queenstown. The six affected flights were NZ439, NZ481, NZ551, NZ623, NZ547 and NZ635, all operated by Airbus A320 aircraft. An Air New Zealand spokesperson told TVNZ that many flights leaving Wellington had been canceled due to the high winds and that all affected customers would be rebooked onto the next available service, or they could do it themselves on the Air New Zealand app.
The spokesperson added: "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." Air New Zealand has been one of the airlines to suffer from issues with both Rolls-Royce.