Travellers stranded in Wellington could face days of waiting for a flight out of the city after yesterday's thick blanket of fog caused massive disruption at the airport.
Passengers queuing up last night. Photo: RNZ / Kim Savage
Domestic flights got back under way at 6am today, and international flights finally resumed late this morning.
But a spokesperson said the airport would be in catch-up mode dealling with a massive backlog of more than 3000 passengers.
MetService said there was a slight chance the fog would return this afternoon, which could further delay efforts to clear the backlog.
The heavy summer fog's grip on the capital brought a frustrating end to many people's holidays as dozens of flights in Wellington, and at other airports, were cancelled or diverted.
Jaye Sloan had hoped to watch the first day's tennis at the Australian Open in Melbourne today, but will instead spend it sitting in Wellington Airport's departures lounge. She said the process had been frustrating.
"People were queued up to find out about what was happening and everyone said you have to queue up to rebook again.
"And then somebody comes down and offers you taxi vouchers, and you say: 'Well, what about accommodation?'
"'Oh if you want accommodation you have to stay in the queue and that's going to be two hours long.'
"It was just a shambles."
Dozens of flights cancelled yesterday
Air New Zealand said the fog affected as many as 60 of its flights yesterday and almost 3000 passengers, while Jetstar said it had to cancel eight flights.
As more and more flights in and out of Wellington were first delayed, then cancelled, lengthy queues quickly formed in front of airline counters.
Frustrated passengers had to wait to rebook their flights for today, and to be allocated somewhere to stay for the night.
David Townsend was hoping to get to Dunedin with his grandson, who was looking forward to reuniting with his father after a four-day trip to Wellington.
"This is the first time this has happened," he said at the airport yesterday. "We've heard about it on TV many times but [thought] oh it's not going to happen to us, so yeah it's a bit frustrating."
Empty tarmac at Wellington airport. Photo: RNZ / Kim Savage
The cancellations were a less than ideal end to a motorcycle trip for Melburnian Steve, who was booked on an early flight yesterday morning.
His plane was first delayed until 10pm last night, before being cancelled altogether.
"We were in motorcycle heaven on your roads, they were fantastic. We went and saw the glaciers and all that wow stuff and it's a bit of a let down that we have to stay here. It could be worse - we could be in a worse place."
Also booked on Steve's flight were Wellington friends Tara and Dionne.
"It was hard to get a hold of people because our phones were dying because we'd been moved around so much and there was nowhere to really charge them. It shortens the holiday as well, it's like a whole day wasted."
Hundreds in other centres were affected by the fog too.
An eerie sea mist started rolling in from the south yesterday morning. The view from Worser Bay Beach. Photo: Gayle Hare
The Jetstar flight Brad Warrington was on made it as far as the capital's airspace, before turning back to Christchurch.
"No water on the plane, no type of refreshments, no food. I know what they're doing, they're a budget airline but you've got people who've been waiting on the plane, and then for the shuttle, for close to four hours."
