Free trip home for Air NZ passengers who can't wait

Air New Zealand has started flying stranded passengers home from Los Angeles and Hong Kong if they are unwilling or unable to wait at the stopovers for volcanic ash to clear over Europe.

Although the airline is paying the accommodation costs of about 500 passengers stranded in the two cities since early Friday, spokesman Mark Street said those who opted not to stay on would be flown home.

He did not know how many were flying home, but said they would not have to pay extra.

Passengers with return tickets would have the cost of travelling between London and the stopover locations refunded, if they did not want to complete their journeys at later dates - likely to be about two weeks away.

But anyone returning home, and wanting to complete their journey later would have to pay again to travel between New Zealand and the intermediate airports.

Meanwhile, New Zealanders planning on travelling to Gallipoli for Anzac Day commemorations face uncertainty.

Mr Street said Air NZ was waiting on the all-clear from Europe and he could not say whether or not flights to Turkey would be affected by an anticipated backlog of delayed flights in Europe.

The Government delegation will not be affected, a spokesman for Veteran Affairs Minister Judith Collins said. He said the Ministry had not been told of any expected disruptions.

The Air Force will be flying the delegation, along with 21 students from around the country. Squadron Leader Kavae Tamariki said the ash cloud will not affect the planned route of the Air Force flight.

Meanwhile KLM, the Dutch subsidiary of Air France, said last night it wanted to resume passenger flights in Europe as soon as possible after it flew a plane through the volcanic ash covering much of the continent without damage.

Flights over much of Europe have been banned because of fears that the abrasive ash could damage planes and cause crashes.

KLM made its test flight in Dutch airspace yesterday, and said inspections afterward showed no damage or irregularities from the ash.

The airline said it was planning to return seven airplanes without passengers to Amsterdam from Duesseldorf early today (NZT).

"We hope to receive permission as soon as possible after that to start up our operation and to transport our passengers to their destinations," said chief executive Peter Hartman.

The volcanic eruption is continuing, and forecasters said light prevailing winds in Europe - and large amounts of unmelted glacial ice above the volcano - mean the amount of ash in the air was unlikely to change soon.

- With NZHERALD STAFF