Richard Roberts.
Fog at Dunedin International Airport delayed the landing
of flights from Wellington, Auckland and Christchurch yesterday
morning.
Airport operations manager Richard Roberts said affected
arrivals were a flight from Wellington due to land at 8.50am,
another from Auckland due at 9.10am and a third from
Christchurch due at 9.45am.
All three circled above the airport and landed between 10am
and 10.30am, he said.
''I don't know how long they can circle in the air, but they
would have known about the fog risk before taking off and
likely allocated extra fuel for that. I have known of flights
circling for about 40 minutes, because the disruption of
returning to the origin or diverting elsewhere is huge,'' Mr
Roberts said.
Normal airport operations resumed before 11am, a flight from
Wellington landing as scheduled about 10.55am.
It was not unusual for the airport to be shrouded in fog in
February, Mr Roberts said.
''Especially with the warm weather, there is more moisture in
the air,'' he said.
A 6.50am flight bound for Wellington and another at 7.20am to
Christchurch were able to get away on time.
At 8am, a flight from Christchurch landed in Dunedin, and 20
minutes later returned to Christchurch as scheduled.
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