Air New Zealand reschedules flights to Melbourne

Air New Zealand says it cancelled two flights to Melbourne this morning because of continuing protest action at Melbourne Airport.

The flights were NZ 151 from Wellington and NZ 121 from Auckland.

The airline says it operated 11 flights last night between Australia and New Zealand to clear the backlog of passengers resulting from yesterday's industrial action by employees of its defunct subsidiary Ansett Australia.

Air New Zealand says today's flights to Sydney and Brisbane are operating normally although passengers may experience some delays.

The airline has scheduled NZ 125 from Auckland to Melbourne to depart this afternoon at 1530 and NZ 193 from Christchurch to Melbourne to depart at 1610 pending a resolution of the dispute.

However passengers are asked to telephone the Air New Zealand flight information line to check flight times before departing for the airport.

Some Air New Zealand flights out of Melbourne to New Zealand are also experiencing delays and people should telephone the Air New Zealand flight information line to check arrival times.

Flight NZ 114 Perth to Auckland is delayed and is now expected to arrive back in New Zealand at 9.40pm tonight.

Yesterday, workers at Melbourne airport blockaded an Air New Zealand jet carrying Prime Minister Helen Clark, preventing it from leaving the terminal. An RNZAF Orion was sent to Australia to bring the Prime Minister home.