Fuel rationing at Queenstown Airport forces airlines to 'gas and go' at Christchurch

Some Jetstar flights originating in Queenstown are topping up in Christchurch. Photo / Supplied

Some flights across the Tasman from Queenstown have been forced to stop at Christchurch because of a fuel shortage in the resort town.

A small number of Jetstar and Qantas flights were affected and airline staff are monitoring supplies carefully.

Fuel supplier BP says other lower South Island airports have been affected.

"We are temporarily allocating customers' fuel supply at Invercargill, Dunedin and Queenstown airports until resupply later this week," a spokesperson said.

"The daily fuel allocations are necessary due to significantly increased listings over customers' forecast and poor weather at these locations. As a result, we are reviewing future forecasts with all our customers."

The spokesperson said all customers were being notified and reserve is being kept for emergency service flights at all locations.

"We are sorry for any inconvenience this is causing and are working to manage it," the BP spokesperson said.

Air New Zealand said it didn't expect any fuel-related disruptions out of Queenstown, Invercargill or Dunedin.

''We are working closely with our fuel suppliers to ensure that we have ample fuel for all of our services both domestically and across the Tasman,'' said a spokeswoman.

A Jetstar spokesman said only a few flights had been affected.

"We've had a couple very challenging weekends operationally. One issue that we did have on the weekend was the fuel supply in Queenstown. So our supplier is BP and they're having some issues with their fuel supply for different reasons," he said.

"This was affecting us Saturday and Sunday. And then we went back to normal but our teams are having meetings daily to check how the situation is progressing."

Christchurch Airport has had a number of flights originating in Queenstown stopping briefly to "gas and go" and fly across the Tasman.

Passengers aboard a Melbourne-bound flight were told today they were diverting to Christchurch because of the fuel shortage at Queenstown.

The fuel issue is the latest to confront travellers on both sides of the Tasman. Bad weather is affecting flights and waves of illness are hitting as airlines, airports and service providers are struggling to rebuild their workforces.

And travel has bounced back quicker and stronger than had been predicted.

Queenstown Airport has said during the peak winter period, airlines have scheduled similar capacity on domestic routes to what they had in 2019 before the pandemic and about 75 per cent on international routes.