Whakaari activity disrupts Tauranga flights, now back to normal

View of Whakaari/White Island from the GNS monitoring observation flight on May 6, 2025. Photo/ GNS Science

• Flights at Tauranga Airport resumed after volcanic activity from Whakaari/White Island caused disruptions.
• The ash advisory led to cancellations when a steam and gas plume reached Tauranga’s airspace.
• GNS Science noted the plume’s impact was due to weather, with no ashfall expected on the coast.

Flights in and out of Tauranga Airport are operating as normal today after volcanic activity from Whakaari/White Island caused disruptions on Sunday evening.

An ash advisory issued at the weekend led to the cancellation of several flights when a steam and gas plume from the island was carried westward by light winds, reaching airspace above Tauranga and the Bay of Plenty coast.

“Everything’s operating today and hopefully will continue to do so for the rest of the day. It’s looking all good,” a Tauranga Airport spokesperson said.

GNS Science volcano duty officer Dr Oliver Lamb said the weekend’s weather conditions played a key role in the disruption.

“On Sunday morning, with a light wind, the plume reached high elevations, making the volcanic activity appear stronger. None of these plumes had the potential for ash to fall on the Bay of Plenty coastline,” Lamb said.

GNS, through the Geonet programme, provided up-to-date information about ash potentially falling on the ground. MetService, via the Volcanic Ash Advisory Centre, was responsible for providing advisories about the presence of ash in the air for aircraft.

“This activity resulted in the Volcanic Ash Advisory Centre issuing an advisory causing flights to be cancelled in and out of Tauranga,” Lamb said.

“The steam and gas plume are typical behaviour for Whakaari/White Island and consistent with what we’d expect to see at Volcanic Alert Level 3 and Aviation Colour Code Orange.

“These levels acknowledge the current level of activity but also reflect the degree of uncertainty about the level of unrest due to the current lack of consistent, usable real-time monitoring data – volcanic activity could escalate with little or no warning.”

Wellington Volcanic Ash Advisory Centre (VAAC) advisory for 5.15GMT May 11, 2025. Image/Metservice.com

On Sunday afternoon, the Tauranga region experienced a light easterly from about 1pm. This changed to a light southwesterly overnight and was expected to change to a light westerly by Monday evening, according to the MetService forecast.

“We do not expect there to be ashfall on the Bay of Plenty coastline, but during northerly or easterly wind conditions, locals might notice a sulphur odour caused by the minor ash load in the steam and gas plume,” Lamb said. 

Good information and advice about the impacts of the steam and gas plume or volcanic ash was available online at BOP Emergency Management, NEMA and Health New Zealand.

GNS Science planned to release a Volcanic Activity Bulletin this week, following further analysis, including data from a recent observation flight.