26 Mar 2012

Air NZ puts on extra flight for Tongan king's funeral

5:44 am on 26 March 2012

Air New Zealand put on an extra flight from Auckland to Tonga on Monday morning due to high demand ahead of the state funeral of King George Tupou V.

A spokesperson says the airline's flights on Saturday and Monday were sold out by Friday and an extra service was added.

The chair of the Auckland-based Tonga Advisory Council says the Tongan community welcomed the extra flight.

Melino Maka expects everyone from New Zealand who wants to attend the funeral in the capital Nuku'alofa will now be able to.

However, there are concerns that some people in Australia would not be able to attend after the date of the funeral was moved from Wednesday to Tuesday, he said.