Long diversions remain in place for heavy vehicles travelling on State Highway One south of Kaikoura, after a major slip on Friday night.

SH1 north of Christchurch remains closed following a major slip near Kaikoura on Friday night.

Virgin Blue may abandon trans-Tasman routes after its alliance plans with Air NZ were knocked back by Australia's competition regulator.

Health implications aside, traffic congestion is more than ever having a huge economic impact.

Supermarket chains are counting millions of dollars in damaged stock as they ship in groceries to cover shortages and access lost to distribution centres.

Skydive NZ's John Kerr says he's "absolutely devastated and numbed" by the Fox Glacier crash that claimed the lives of more than a third of his staff.

Transport accident investigators are confident they will find "most, if not all", of the reasons for the Fox Glacier plane crash, despite fire causing massive damage to the aircraft.

The deaths of five local men and four overseas tourists makes it one of New Zealand's deadliest plane crashes.

Aucklanders stayed off the roads last night as authorities shut the busiest stretch of motorway in the country.

A fiery plane crash that killed nine people in Fox Glacier today happened just metres from the town's chief fire officer's house.