Airport again disrupted

Press, 16 July 1983, Page 8

Airport again disrupted

Fog disrupted the travel plans of about 1700 airline passengers travelling in or out of Christchurch yesterday. For the second day in a row, fog closed Christchurch Airport to aircraft movements most of the day. A spokesman for Air New Zealand said that the airline’s first domestic arrival for the day was at 2.45 p.m., and altogether nine aircraft were able to land. Seven aircraft departed, the first at 3.30 p.m. Twenty-one flights into Christchurch were cancelled, and another 21 outward flights also were cancelled.

The spokesman said that because of the closing there was a shortage of seats today to Palmerston North and Auckland, and a special flight will be provided to

cater for these passengers. A special flight would also arrive today from Wellington, and another from Auckland. One special flight to Wellington left Timaru yesterday afternoon after passengers were ferried there by bus, and another three special flights to Wellington left from Christchurch. There were only minor delays to Qantas services to and from Australia. Mount Cook Airlines reported that all its flights went ahead, three flights using Timaru Airport after arrangements had been made to transfer passengers by bus. Some Mount Cook flights were delayed up to an hour. The Weather Office reported that more mist and drizzle was likely overnight, clearing to cloudy conditions by midday today.