More than 70 flights in and out of Auckland Airport have been cancelled due to poor weather, with some airline customers being offered road transport due to the disruption.
Thick fog and cloud shrouded much of the country this morning, causing significant disruption to regional turbo-prob services across Air New Zealand's network.
Flight restrictions at Auckland Airport were lifted at 10.30am, but scheduled flights are still likely to be affected this afternoon due to dozens of earlier cancellations and delays.
By 10.20am 56 domestic regional flights had been cancelled and 22 delayed, the airport said.
International flights, and domestic flights to Christchurch, Dunedin and Queenstown had not been affected.
Poor weather was expected to stick around until at least lunchtime in the central and upper North Island and parts of the South Island, Air New Zealand warned.
Auckland, Tauranga, Rotorua, Hamilton, Whangarei, Kerikeri, Nelson and Queenstown were all affected, with flow-on impacts across the wider domestic network.
The backlog from this morning's cancelled and delayed flights meant scheduled flights later today would also be affected.
Disrupted customers were being offered road transportation options where possible.
Jet services were operating largely as normal but there were some delays in and out of Auckland this morning – with some flow on impact to the network.
Customers were asked to use online services and avoid calling the contact centre if possible as it was dealing with a high volume of phone calls.
Aucklanders awoke to another blanket of heavy fog, prompting warnings to motorists and cancelling flights for the second day in a row.
A Niwa time-lapse camera captured the thick fog rolling in before sunrise this morning.
Motorists were warned to expect poor visibility and allow extra time to travel this morning.
Foggy conditions remain across much of #Auckland's motorway network this morning. With reduced visibility please remember to keep your lights on, allow extra time and mind your following distance. ^TP pic.twitter.com/Flap7eOPiM
— Waka Kotahi NZTA Auckland & Northland (@WakaKotahiAkNth) July 10, 2019
Once the fog lifts the city is expected to get sunshine, with a high of 16C and a low of 9C. A westerly wind is likely to move the fog away.
