Rongotai Traffic Diverted North

Press, Volume CII, Issue 30026, 10 January 1963, Page 10

Rongotai Traffic Diverted North

(New Zealand Press Association)

PALMERSTON NORTH, January 7.

More than 100 people sat around playing cards, dozing, talking or reading at the Palmerston North airport terminal this afternoon waiting for flights which in some cases were delayed by up to four hours. Poor weather closed Wellington airport this morning and Palmerston North took the brunt of the Wellington traffic.

Passengers bound for or departing from Wellington passed through Palmerston North, and National Airways Corporation and airport officials were busy all day coping with the overflow above usual traffic.

For some it was a long wait. One passenger left Wellington at 9 a.m., travelled to Palmerston North by bus, but had to wait until 4.20 p.m. before he was airborne again. Another passenger was returning to Christchurch from a holiday in Nelson and finished up at Palmerston North. She is Miss Judy Gibbs, who left Nelson at 8.30 a.m. today, spent five hours at Paraparaumu waiting for a flight and was then moved on tc Palmerston North, arriving at 2.50 p.m. She left at 4.20 p.m. for Christchurch. East coast-bound flights from Palmerston North were delayed about two hours and a half. Among those passengers forced to pass through Palmerston North this morning was the United States Ambassador, Mr Anthopy B. Akers. Viscounts which would nor-

mally have touched down at Wellington but came into Palmerston North today included a special which left Auckland at 5.45 a.m. with 30 Wellington-bound passengers aboard. The flight was put on to cope with a backlog of passengers from Tuesday night. Another flight which arrived in the city at 9.5 a.m. had 66 passengers aboard, 43 of whom travelled on by road to Wellington and the others to Paraparaumu for various points. Other Viscounts which were scheduled for Palmerston North today included the Dunedin-Wellington flight at 4 p.m., the Christchurch-Wel-lington-Auckland flight at 5 p.m., the Christchurch-Wel-lington-Auckland flights at 7 p.m., the 8.20 p.m. AucklandWellington flight, and a special Christchurch-Wellington flight at 8.30 p.m. The 8.20 flight was scheduled to remain at Palmerston North tonight and the others were to carry on. Electras Turn Back Two Qantas Electras, one with 64 passengers and the other with 68, were forced to turn back to Sydney today when only an hour out from New Zealand. One of the flights, for Wellington, is now scheduled to arrive at 6 a.m. tomorrow. The other, for Auckland, is scheduled to arrive at 12.35 p.m. tomorrow. A T.E.A.L. Electra flight which was to have left Auckland for Nandi ait 8.30 p.m. today, was cancelled. Today’s Nandi-Auckland flight was also cancelled. Other airports closed included New Plymouth, Tauranga and some north of Auckland. An NA.C. spokesman said tonight most of the passengers affected by the delays had found transport by tonight and few had had to stop over at Wellington. The Weather Office said tonight the weather over New Zealand today had been mainly unsettled with rain in all North Island districts and in the north and east of the South Island.

It was expected the weather would remain fairly unsettled over the North Island tomorrow with some drizzle in Canterbury, on the Kaikoura coast and in the Cook Strait area.