Nightmare day of travel as flights delayed around the country

Passengers in airports around New Zealand have faced a nightmare day of travel with major delays across the network despite fog lifting and flights resuming in and out of the capital.

A marathon effort is under way to clear a massive backlog, with Air New Zealand putting on at least six extra flights this afternoon to get stranded passengers out of Wellington.

Thanks @FlyAirNZ for sending in the big bird to help with the passenger backlog from yesterday's fog! #777 #avgeek pic.twitter.com/lV9ICGmADU

— Wellington Airport (@WLGAirport) March 29, 2017

Flights were grounded for around 24 hours after sea fog rolled in yesterday morning, leaving thousands spending an unscheduled night in the capital.

Many were forced to bunk down at the terminal after all hotel rooms were taken and rental cars snapped up.

Today the disruption has had a dire knock-on effect around the country, with dozens of flights at provincial airports being rescheduled and passengers facing long delays.

Late this morning seven flights in and out of Palmerston North had been rescheduled, one leaving passengers waiting more than six hours for take-off.

Passengers have also faced delays at Invercargill airport late this morning, with a least six flights between the capital and Christchurch affected.

Six flights into New Plymouth from Auckland have been delayed, with five flights to Wellington and Auckland delayed and as many cancelled this morning.

An Air New Zealand spokeswoman said weather conditions had affected a number of services in the past 24 hours, particularly into and out of Wellington.

Operations into Wellington resumed this morning and teams were working hard to get the network back on track and get customers to where they needed to go.

A Jetstar spokesman said 14 domestic flights and one international service was cancelled as a result of fog in Wellington. Around 1,800 passengers were affected by the disruption.

Flights to and from Wellington resumed early this morning.

He said the high number of cancellations in one day was rare but could happen due to fog or other extreme weather events.