Passengers on the move after fog lifts at Wellington Airport

UPDATE - Passengers stranded for a day and a half by fog at Wellington Airport took to the air again this morning as the white haze lifted to reveal sunny weather.

Air New Zealand told NZPA flights in and out of Wellington resumed at 9.30am.

A total of 250 Air New Zealand flights had been affected since the fog descended on Tuesday evening -- 200 flights yesterday and 50 this morning, a spokesman said.

"About 8000 Air NZ passengers were affected by delays yesterday and 2000 today," he said.

A Wellington Airport spokesman confirmed passengers were moving through checkout and flights were departing and arriving once more.

"It's a beautiful sunny day in Wellington," he said.

At Dunedin Airport, where fog prevented departures and arrivals this morning, Air New Zealand had to cancel one flight, while a second 737 from Auckland due to land in Dunedin at 9am had been asked to circle above for landing clearance, or divert to Christchurch.

Qantas regional general manager for New Zealand, Allan Williams, told NZPA earlier today it would take at least the rest of the day to clear the backlog.

"Even when it lifts we're going to have a huge backlog and aircraft right out of position in places they shouldn't be and it's going to take a long time to recover."

He said there had been a shortage of accommodation in Auckland yesterday and not everybody stranded had been able to find a hotel.

Mr Williams said there had been 18 domestic flights and 10 international flights cancelled yesterday.

People for the most part were understanding when airports closed for fog.

"Everyone (is) very understanding while they can look out of the window and see the fog. The second it lifts they anticipate that a flotilla of 10 aircraft would arrive out of nowhere and pick them up."

He urged people to contact their airline before travelling to the Wellington Airport.

Mr Williams said Qantas was looking at using 220-seat 767s instead of the 130-seat 737s from Australia to help clear the backlog.

Palmerston North Airport staff worked overtime to cope with extra flights diverted from Wellington.

Air New Zealand airport manager Ken Walker said 18 extra flights arrived at Palmerston North yesterday and six on Tuesday night.

About 20 buses were used yesterday to ferry 1000 passengers to Wellington. Another 400 passengers were taken by bus from Wellington to Palmerston North to fly to Auckland.

Mr Walker said on a normal day, 18 flights come into Palmerston North Airport.

Some of the extra flights were Boeing 737s, which carried 136 passengers, but the biggest plane that usually flew into Palmerston North was a 66-seater.The Wellington fog also caused problems for the International Rugby Sevens being staged in the capital this weekend, leaving teams and fans dotted around the country.

The MetService said the fog had been down as low as 300 feet (91m), which only happened five or six times a year in Wellington and was quite unusual.

- NZPA