Air New Zealand lays on extra flights after Auckland floods
After an extreme weather event led to the flooding and closure of Auckland International, forcing the cancellation of scores of flights and leaving thousands of travellers stranded, Air New Zealand (NZ, Auckland International) has added several international flights to clear the backlog and secured an agreement with Star Alliance partner Singapore Airlines (SQ, Singapore Changi) to upgrade two scheduled B777-300(ER) services to an A380-800.
With over 9,000 Air New Zealand passengers stuck at airports worldwide after Auckland was hit with its wettest day on record on January 27, at Air New Zealand’s request, Singapore Airlines upgauged its daily SQ285 flight down to Auckland to the A380-800 on January 29 and 31. 9V-SKQ (msn 79) operated the January 29 flight while 9V-SKR (msn 82) flew the January 31 service.
“We’ve pulled out all the stops to get our customers in the air. We’ve redirected cargo flights to pick up passengers, called in favours from our alliance partners, used larger aircraft and adjusted our schedule wherever possible to make it happen. No stone has been left unturned,” said Air New Zealand’s chief customer and sales officer Leanne Geraghty.
Auckland Airport received 245mm of rain on January 27, flooding the international terminal and causing significant infrastructure damage. Insurers are calling the downpour, which impacted the entire city, New Zealand’s worst climate event since modern record-keeping began.
Geraghty said in the washup, Air New Zealand has rebooked the 9,000 impacted passengers, which she calls “a massive undertaking and one of the biggest rebookings in our history.” On January 31, there was an additional flight between Los Angeles International and Auckland International with ZK-NZH (msn 37964), a B787-9, operating NZ6075. On January 30, the nonstop scheduled New York JFK – Auckland International flight, NZ1, went via Nadi to collect passengers stranded there by previously cancelled flights.
On February 1, Air New Zealand sent A321-200N ZK-NNC (msn 08573) to Niue to collect passengers. On the same day, ZK-NZJ (msn 37966) flew to Apia Faleolo to operate NZ6055 back to Auckland. On February 6, Air New Zealand is also supplementing existing Tokyo Narita – Auckland International service with an additional B787-9 flight operating as NZ94.
“(Samoa and Japan) are two ports that remain in high demand with limited options,” said Geraghty. One week after the rain, Auckland Airport says repair work was underway and key mechanical and electrical systems were up and running.
“We’ve seen more than 127,000 international travellers through the terminal since the flooding, and another 26,000 arrive and depart today (February 3),” said Auckland Airport Chief Executive Carrie Hurihanganui. “The focus of crews is removing flood-damaged carpet and lower sections of wall linings across the ground floor of the international terminal and in limited areas of the domestic terminal. We want people to know that there may be some disruption as these important works get underway.”