Displaced passengers stuck at airport as thick fog grounds all flights in and out of Wellington

Hundreds of flights were affected yesterday and Wellington Airport packed with displaced travellers as thick sea fog grounded plane. Photo / Cameron Carpenter

Hundreds of flights were affected yesterday as thick sea fog grounded planes in the capital.

Wellington Airport was packed with displaced travellers yesterday afternoon as they waited to find out whether their flights would make it out of the city in the dense blanket of fog that had rolled in overnight.

But Air New Zealand cancelled all operations at Wellington Airport yesterday evening as weather conditions remained murky.

Flights had also been cancelled and diverted away from the capital the night before due to the fog.

The conditions also led to a spate of road crashes across the region yesterday, causing major traffic delays for commuters.

A number of crashes at rush hour on the capital's motorways led to long queues at Pukerua Bay, Johnsonville, and south of the Mungavin Ave on-ramps.

MetService meteorologist Lisa Murray said the moisture-laden active low was tracking south along the eastern side of the country, pushing low cloud over skies and the possibility of sea fog in coastal areas.

"At the end of the day it's all the same, we're in cloud. You can't see anything, it's sort of damp. That's just the type of weather that it kind of is."

A long-awaited reunion between Cameron Higginson and his girlfriend was foiled when his partner's flight from Brisbane was diverted to Auckland yesterday.

Higginson said he hadn't seen his girlfriend in four months and was "pretty gutted" the weather had kept them apart even longer.

Meanwhile Jenny Keating and Marilyn Hunt were supposed to be flying to Australia for a holiday, but instead were sitting in the airport food cafeteria with glasses of wine in hand.

Hunt was not happy, but said: "It's the weather, what can you do?

"There's absolutely nothing you can do about it."