Airport packed as fog diverts flights

PLANE CITY: Planes diverted to Tauranga airport. PHOTO/STEVE KLINK

Tauranga Airport was full of stranded passengers en route to Auckland yesterday, after heavy fog forced planes to divert to the Bay.

The weather conditions in Auckland forced planes from across the country to divert to Tauranga.

Passengers flying to Auckland from Nelson and Gisborne were among those affected. Some passengers had been offered the option of taking a bus to Auckland.

Property manager John Gibson departed Nelson at 6.45am for a one-day course in Auckland and was diverted to Tauranga, arriving at 8.30am.

"It's completely thrown us, may as well go home," he said.

His bags had not been unloaded from the plane at 11am.

"We're just waiting it out."

"I've been delayed in Shanghai for 19 hours, so this isn't too bad."

Mr Gibson was put on a plane and arrived back in Nelson at 4pm, missing his course.

Karen MacDonald had left for a flight from Gisborne to Auckland at 6.50am, and arrived in Tauranga at 8.15am.

She said she was not too worried about the delay, as she had a friend in Tauranga and had no set plans in Auckland.

"I was just visiting my daughter so it's not tragic."

Ms MacDonald said she felt for those who were connecting to international flights.

"There were lots of kids with passports and boarding passes."

Four flights to and from Christchurch were also delayed because of the conditions. The fog did not affect flights to Wellington, Dunedin and Queenstown.