Fog forces cancellation, delay of Auckland flights

Hundreds of domestic air travellers faced long delays after fog disrupted flights at Auckland Airport this morning.

By 10.30am there had been 30 flights cancelled, and an undeclared but similar number of flights delayed due to the fog.

"It's mainly impacted the smaller regional flights rather than the main trunk routes (to Wellington and Christchurch), but that doesn't say they haven't been impacted either," Auckland Airport spokesman Richard Llewellyn told NZPA.

"A typical delay for a passenger has been about 30 to 60 minutes, but that varies depending on the route and the airline."

Fog had started to clear by 10.30am but had not done so completely and the airport still had low visibility procedures in place, Mr Llewellyn said. Airlines were working at clearing their backlogs.

International flights had not been impacted due to low visibility technology and because they were granted a higher priority than domestic flights, he said.

The fog also slowed some peak-hour traffic to a crawl in Auckland.

On the Auckland Harbour Bridge motorists drove up the south bound lanes from the North, emerged in brilliant sunlight at the top of the bridge, only to drive back into fog on the city side.

Fog also covered much of the harbour.

Fog at Hamilton Airport also forced the cancellation of eight Air New Zealand flights this morning.

An Air New Zealand spokeswoman said the flights were all small 19-seater aircrafts.

Despite the early morning fog in Auckland, the spokeswoman said no flights had been cancelled in the country's largest city as of 8am.

Jetstar has not returned phone calls.

- NZPA, NZ HERALD STAFF