Air NZ has cancelled dozens of flights ahead of cyclone Gabrielle impacting Auckland and the North Island of New Zealand.
Air NZ has issued the following advice to passengers for cyclone Gabrielle which we reproduce in full…..
Air New Zealand Chief Operational Integrity and Safety Officer Captain David Morgan says to keep customers, staff and aircraft safe, the airline has made additional cancellations.
“We continue to do everything we can to minimise the impact on our schedule, however in preparation for strong fluctuating crosswinds, for the safety of our staff and customers, international arrivals and departures from tomorrow morning through till midday Tuesday will be extremely limited,” says Captain Morgan.
“We’ve cancelled five long-haul international arrivals into Auckland tomorrow as well as departures. New York, Los Angeles, San Francisco and Singapore arrivals are operating as normal but may be required to divert to another New Zealand port.”
“All Tasman and Pacific Island flights tomorrow have also been cancelled.”
“In addition, all flights to, from or through Auckland, Hamilton, Tauranga and Taupo are cancelled through till midday Tuesday. We’d like to thank customers for their continued understanding if their plans are impacted.”
“Given that the trajectory and strength of cyclone Gabrielle is fluid, customers should prepare for further flight cancellations. Our priority is the safety of our customers, staff and infrastructure and we will only operate flights if it’s safe to do so.”
Air New Zealand is asking customers to please refrain from calling its contact centre as they’re working hard to re-accommodate customers. Direct message the airline on its social media channels, WhatsApp or postpone calling for a few days.
To quickly re-accommodate customers once normal operations resume, Air New Zealand is already exploring use of larger aircraft and increasing capacity to destinations that need it the most.
Air New Zealand will provide further updates to customers directly via the Air New Zealand app and post updates on our travel alerts page. Updates in the app may take some time as the airline works through the cancellations.
Flight cancellations recap
- All flights to or from Kerikeri and Whangarei between midday today and Tuesday morning are cancelled
- All turboprop flights to, from or through Auckland, Hamilton, Tauranga and Taupo from midday today through to midday Tuesday are cancelled
- Last flights into Hamilton and Tauranga tonight are cancelled
- Five long-haul international arrivals into Auckland on Monday are cancelled – New York, Los Angeles, San Francisco and Singapore still operating
- Long-haul international departures from Auckland on Monday are cancelled
- All Tasman and Pacific Island flights tomorrow are cancelled
These schedule adjustments will cause significant flow-on effects while the airline works through getting customers on those services to their original destinations and crew and planes back where they need to be. This may take a few days to recover.
Advice for customers
The airline is advising those with non-urgent travel between Sunday 12 February and Friday 17 February 2023 make use of the flexibility policy. Customers can either hold their fare in credit for 12 months or rebook in the same class of travel between Sunday 12 February 2023 and Wednesday 22 February 2023 without fare difference, penalty or service fees.
- The AirNZ app is the easiest way for customers to stay up to date with flight details and changes
- Most customers can self-serve via the Manage Booking tab on the Air New Zealand website
- Internationals customers who are impacted will be notified and rebooked to the next best alternative as soon as possible
- If a customer is part way to their final destination and their onward travel is impacted, Air New Zealand will contact customers to support with accommodation requirements
- As the contact centre is experiencing extremely high call volumes, we ask that only those with travel over the next 24 hours contact us directly
- The airline’s travel alerts page has the most up to date information on operating flights – our contact centre team do not have any more information than this
- If you’re flight is cancelled, please do not travel to the airport – staff at the airport are unable to rebook customers
Customers who booked through a travel agent or third-party online agent should contact them directly about making changes to their bookings or credit validity.
Air New Zealand would like to thank customers for their patience and support while it works through these significant disruptions.
The airline is focused on managing these impacts for our customers and will not be able to provide specific flight details or impacted customer numbers at this time.
