Air New Zealand Provides Update On Significant Flight Disruptions

Air New Zealand wishes to provide the following update on the significant flight disruptions on its network following the flooding emergency in Auckland.

Air New Zealand Chief Operational Integrity and Safety Officer Captain David Morgan says the airline’s domestic flights in and out of Auckland resumed from 12pm today as Auckland Airport re-opens.

“As the airline works to process the backlog of customers and flights, the priority is to get our domestic customers who need to travel urgently to where they need to go. Customers needing to travel can rebook online or via the Air NZ app. Those who don’t have urgent travel are being encouraged to make full use of our flexibility policies,” says Captain Morgan.

While Auckland Airport is scheduled to open its international terminal from 5pm today, Air New Zealand advises there is still a lot of work to do assess whether flying its scheduled departures tonight is possible.

“International flights in and out of Auckland are more complex than domestic, with many parts of the aviation ecosystem needing to be ready as well. This includes airport security, systems to ticket and process customers, and biosecurity and baggage operations.”

An update on the airline’s international flights will be made later today.

“The flooding has had a huge impact our Auckland operations. We're working on getting customers to their final destinations and getting our crew and aircraft back in the right place. It might take a few days to get everything back on track, and we thank our customers in advance for their patience and understanding during this challenging time.

“We’re doing everything in our power to minimise the impact on our customers and get everyone to their destinations as quickly and safely as possible.

“Our top priority at this time is the safety and wellbeing of our customers and hardworking employees. We’re working closely with airport authorities and other agencies to manage the situation and keep everyone informed of the latest developments.”

Advice to customers

“We understand that many of our customers have been affected by this emergency and we want to assure them that we’re here to help,” says Captain Morgan.

The airline is advising those with non-urgent travel between now and Monday 30th January 2023 to make use of the flexibility policy. Customer can either hold their fare in credit or rebook in the same class of travel between Saturday 28th January 2023 and Monday 6th February 2023 without fare difference, penalty or service fees.

Customers can easily opt into credit via the Air New Zealand app or website in the Manage Booking tab, by selecting Request a Credit. They can also use the app or website to change their flights to another date and have their change fee waived, though a fare difference may apply.

Advice for customers booked to travel:

• The Air New Zealand app is the easiest way for customers to stay up to date with flight details and changes
• Most customers are able to self-serve via the Manage Booking tab on the Air New Zealand website
• We will endeavour to notify and rebook customers to the next best alternative over the next 48 hours
• As the contact centre is experiencing extremely high volumes of calls we ask that only those with travel over the next 24 hours contact us directly.
• The airline’s travel alerts page has the most up to date information on operating flights - our contact centre team do not have any more information than this
• If you are travelling out of Auckland, please do not travel to the airport until you receive an update that your flight is going ahead

Customers who booked through a travel agent or third-party online agent should contact them directly about making changes to their bookings or credit validity.

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