Air traffic control authority Airways has confirmed the Napier tower was unmanned until after lunchtime today but denied any flights were delayed as a result.
A spokeswoman for Airways, which operates the control tower, said the tower was unmanned until 1.30pm but no delays were caused by the "pre-arranged" reduction of service.
"Airlines are continuing to operate safely under pre-arranged contingency procedures and there has been no disruption to flights.
"Airlines are able to continue operating under agreed contingency procedures, that are governed by CAA rules, with no impact on their operations or safety.
Early today, Hawke's Bay Olympian Shea McAleese tweeted that an Air NZ flight at the region's airport was delayed this morning due to a control tower staff shortage.
Last week, delays relating to the airport's traffic control tower were highlighted by MP Stuart Nash.
Nash - Police Minister and MP for Napier - had hit out on Twitter after his flight from Hawke's Bay Airport was delayed.
He claimed the late departure - the second in as many weeks - was because an air traffic controller was late for work.
Nash described the controller as a "clown".
Airways apologised to Nash, also on Twitter and said the delay was due to an "unexpected staff shortage".
"Unfortunately this came after a controller had a car breakdown en route to work last week," a spokesperson posted on the social media site.
"While unrelated, we regret these two issues have inconvenienced passengers."
In an unrelated incident, Eastern Police had confirmed officers were deployed to a reported "disturbance" at the Napier air traffic control tower at 4pm on August 5.
No arrests were made or charges laid as a result of the incident.
The Airways spokeswoman said the company provided air traffic control services from 21 locations nationally – "our Christchurch radar centre, Auckland oceanic centre, 17 air traffic control towers and two flight information service towers".
"The level of service we provide from each of our 21 service locations is determined by legislation and is agreed with airlines and airports to balance safety, their operational and scheduling requirements and the costs of delivering the service.
"As a smaller regional aerodrome, handling around 24,000 flight movements annually, Napier air traffic control tower has a staff of five controllers who work solo watch shifts.
"From time to time, there are pre-arranged reductions in service hours to accommodate staffing needs."
Airways was assessing digital tower technology, which might allow it to extend the hours of air services in more regional locations, the spokesperson said.
"Currently our hours of service are set around airlines' scheduled services and we are not able to extend those if operational needs change or if we get short notice requests from customers."
