Wind gusts of up to 80km/h delayed flights at Hawke's Bay Airport in Napier. Photo / File
Wind gusts of up to 80km/h delayed flights at Hawke's Bay Airport in Napier. Photo / File
Strong wind caused several flights in and out of the beleaguered Hawke's Bay Airport to be delayed today.
An Air New Zealand spokeswoman said flight NZ8884 from Wellington to Napier circled the airport several times before landing on its first approach.
It departed Wellington at 8.37am and landed at 9.50am- 15 minutes after the scheduled arrival time.
One woman said she had to wait an extra half-an-hour for her loved ones to get off the plane. She believes it circled the airport three times before landing.
On Monday, the NZ5012 service from Napier to Auckland was also delayed as the truck used to refuel aircraft was unexpectedly undergoing maintenance, a spokeswoman said.
MetService Meteorologist Angus Hines said the strongest gusts recorded at the airport were between 9am and 11am.
Gusts of 80km/h were recorded and the strongest mean speed and average speed was 55km/h.
Today's events are part of a string of delays relating to weather and control tower issues.
Last week, heavy fog forced the cancellation of 16 flights, including Jetstar ones.
Several flights into the Napier-based airport had to be abandoned with some aircraft unable to land in thick fog, while flights out of the airport had to be cancelled before take-off.
Also on Tuesday, NZ5883 service from Napier to Wellington was delayed by 10 minutes while "pilots carried out additional pre-departure processes as the aerodrome was under air traffic control contingency procedures", the airline said at the time.
The previous week, Minister of Police and Napier MP Stuart Nash complained on Twitter when his flight was delayed due to a air traffic controller running late for work.
