Most of these flights were from Air New Zealand, though two affected arrivals and two cancelled departures were with Jetstar.
An NZME reporter onboard an aborted flight described their plane turning around just before reaching Queenstown and returning to Auckland.
“We do apologise for this, but safety is paramount and we couldn’t land,” an air hostess said.
“We do care and we are especially sorry for those who are competing in the marathon.”
Annoyed passengers on board said they’d been training for six months.
Nathan Lee travelled from Taiwan to run the marathon with his parents.
His parents made an earlier flight to Queenstown, but Lee will miss the event he’s trained months for.
“They’re there right now, and I’m here trying to figure out what the hell our next move is going to be,” Lee said.
“If you fly here, and then you tell me that it’s suddenly aborted ... I did come off an 11-hour flight previously, so that was the light at the end of the tunnel.”
Marren said affected passengers will be able to catch “recovery flights” to their destination when weather permits.
“We know the weather disruptions are frustrating, and appreciate the patience and understanding of our customers as our airport and customer teams rebook them to alternate flights.”
The marathon is set to start at 8.20am on Saturday.
Queenstown Marathon said it would run as planned and bibs would be ready to collect at the start line desk on Saturday morning for anyone who missed the athlete check-in by 8pm Friday.
Spokeswoman Ruth Bowerman said athletes who missed the marathon could contact them and they would be in touch.
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