Thirty-eight flights were cancelled during November because of volcanic ash from Whakaari White Island. Composite photo / NZME
A prominent GP is calling on Air New Zealand to communicate cancellations better as volcanic ash wreaks havoc on Bay of Plenty flight schedules.
The airline cancelled 38 flights in November because of ash from Whakaari White Island, which has been in a phase of minor eruptions.
Air New Zealand says it aims to give customers as much warning as possible of cancellations, but conditions can change quickly.
The flight cancellation message Dr Luke Bradford received about 9pm on Monday last week – nine hours before his 6am flight from Tauranga to Christchurch – gave only “operational requirements” as the reason.
That could be code for anything, said Bradford, who is president of the Royal New Zealand College of General Practitioners and a GP at Fifth Avenue Family Practice.
“If it is White Island, they need to put out proper comments about it, but instead, they’re just leaving people stuck.
“They just need to tell us.”
His was one of 16 flights to or from Tauranga cancelled that day due to ash from the active marine volcano about 50km offshore of Whakatāne.
Bradford said he was due in Christchurch to give an 11am keynote address to 1100 delegates, for which he had been preparing for three months.
Air NZ rescheduled him on a flight at 11.55am, which he took, but he missed his presentation.
It was the second time in two weeks one of his flights had been cancelled.
On November 17, Bradford’s evening flight from Auckland to Tauranga was cancelled.
His flight was one of eight to or from Tauranga Airport that were cancelled that day or the following morning due to windblown ash.
Air Chathams services at Whakatāne Airport were also impacted by the ash warning, RNZ reported.
Bradford said Air NZ rescheduled him for a flight 24 hours later.
He had a clinic the next day, however, so he shared a hired car with another traveller to get back to Tauranga more quickly.
Bradford said there needs to be transparency and explanations as to why flights are being cancelled, and earlier warnings would also help.
“Instead of 9pm the night before, when I can’t do anything, if it looks like White Island is a problem and Air NZ know throughout the day, tell me so I can organise travel arrangements differently.
“Start having that conversation much earlier,” Bradford said.
Tauranga Airport manager Ray Dumble said volcanic ash can travel a considerable distance once expelled into the atmosphere.
Wind could blow it as far as Tauranga or Rotorua in some conditions.
“With safety as our priority, flights needed to be cancelled. Tauranga Airport has received no complaints in regard to ash-disrupted flights.”
Air NZ chief safety and risk officer Nathan McGraw said 38 flights were cancelled during November because of volcanic ash.
“When flights are disrupted, we always aim to give customers as much notice as possible. Unfortunately, the movement of volcanic ash is not always predictable, and conditions can change quickly.”
McGraw said if wind blows ash into a flight path, it becomes unsafe to operate as it can affect visibility and potentially impact the aircraft.
“Forecasts can change throughout the day depending on wind direction and new activity, which affects how much warning we can provide.”
The proactive cancellation decision on Monday night was based on predicted wind patterns for Tuesday.
“We understand how frustrating cancellations are, and we don’t take the decision to cancel or disrupt services lightly,” McGraw said.
Where the airline could give an earlier warning, it would.
“However, safety will always be at the forefront of our decision-making.”
Whakaari White Island has been at Alert Level 3, denoting minor eruptive activity, since the end of October.
A GeoNet spokesperson said airlines take a conservative approach around volcanoes and get intel from many sources when they make changes, including the Volcanic Ash Advisory Centre, GeoNet’s Volcano Monitoring Group, and the National Geohazard Monitoring Centre.
GeoNet issues a Volcano Activity Notice for Aviation to the aviation industry when there is volcanic unrest and ash cloud activity.
In an update on White Island last week, Earth Sciences NZ volcanologist Geoff Kilgour said the island had been generating “weakly loaded volcanic ash plumes” throughout November.
These were punctuated by “more visible energetic plumes” that last several minutes, rise up to 3km and appear to contain “a minor amount of fine volcanic ash particles”.
Gas and fine particles from the plume may be blown towards the Bay of Plenty coastline in some wind conditions, but ashfall on the mainland was unlikely without a significant uptick in activity.
Bijou Johnson is a multimedia journalist based in the Bay of Plenty. A passionate writer and reader, she grew up in Tauranga and developed a love for journalism while exploring various disciplines at university. She holds a Bachelor of Arts in Classical Studies from Massey University.