With cyclone Gabrielle causing havoc across the North Island of New Zealand, Air New Zealand flight NZ1 which departed from New York's John F. Kennedy International Airport to Auckland International Airport (AKL) on February 11, ended up in the Cook Islands Rarotonga International Airport (RAR).

Pilots on NZ1 decided to depart New York and attempt to arrive before the curfew that Auckland Airport instigated. However, they made the decision en route to divert to Rarotonga. This follows another recent diversion from Air New Zealand when NZ29 from Houston arrived in Rarotonga as Auckland Airport shut its doors from heavy rain and flooding.

NZ1 departed JFK on February 11th, at 21:15 local time, one hour and 35 minutes behind schedule, before arriving in Rarotonga at 06:00 on February 12th.

Source: Flightradar24.com

Auckland Airport closed again.

It's a double blow for the airport, as on January 27th, the airport encountered flooding forcing its closure and displacing over 9,000 passengers. Cyclone Gabrielle's arrival has meant all domestic flights to/from or through Auckland have been canceled until Tuesday, with international flights canceled across Monday and expected delays into Tuesday. Air New Zealand's decision to pause operations through the cyclone announced the airlines move on Sunday:

“We continue to do everything we can to minimise the impact on our schedule, however in preparation for strong fluctuating crosswinds, for the safety of our staff and customers, international arrivals and departures from tomorrow morning through till midday Tuesday will be extremely limited.”

Photo: Air New Zealand

A quiet Monday at Auckland Airport

Apart from the rain and wind making noise at New Zealand's largest airport, operations remained limited, with all trans-Tasman and Pacific Island flights canceled for Monday. Domestic operations remained heavily restricted.

Air New Zealand has provided increased flexibility for passengers, being able to change or put their flights in credit, encouraging those to delay non-essential travel.

Advice from Auckland Airport

Chief customer officer at Auckland Airport, Scott Tasker, has provided advice for travelers planning to travel over the next few days:

“Customers who are travelling today, tomorrow and Tuesday should be prepared for short-notice disruptions to travel plans. Our advice is to please monitor your email for any messages from airlines and travel agents about delayed or disrupted flights, along with your travel app for flight updates.”

Photo: Air New Zealand

International flights returning Tuesday

With weather conditions expected to improve on Tuesday, at the time of writing, selected long-haul international flights had arrived or were en route to Auckland. LA801 direct from Santiago arrived two hours late, touching down at 06:59 this morning, SQ281 from Singapore arrived eight hours late, landing at 08:07, and NZ80 from Hong Kong International Airport is expected to arrive in Auckland at 13:34 local time, among others.

Air New Zealand has advised their domestic operations will recommence as below:

• Auckland jet services will begin from mid-morning Tuesday
• Turboprop services will start from Auckland and other North Island ports from mid-afternoon Tuesday
• 11 domestic flights have been added to the schedule to help with recovery efforts, with more to come

Sources: New Zealand Herald