Air New Zealand has cancelled several flights as Tropical Cyclone Gabrielle makes its way towards the North Island.
A spokesperson for the airline said they're closely monitoring the situation and making operational changes to ensure the safety of travellers, staff and aircraft.
It means all flights to or from Kerikeri and Whangārei between noon tomorrow and Tuesday morning are cancelled, along with last flights into Hamilton and Tauranga tomorrow night.
All turboprop flights to, from or through Auckland, Hamilton and Tauranga from noon tomorrow through to noon on Monday are also cancelled
"We're doing everything we can to minimise the impact on our schedule. However, our top priority at this time is the safety and well-being of our customers and our people," the airline's chief operational integrity and safety officer Captain David Morgan said.
Air New Zealand is currently repositioning crew and moving aircraft to hangers where they won't be at risk from high winds.
Morgan said customers should expect more cancellations, saying the airline will be releasing regular updates via their app — asking travellers to refrain from calling their contact centre as they're experiencing a high level of calls.
The airline is advising anyone with non-urgent travel between tomorrow and Friday, February 17, to use its flexibility policy, which means customers can either hold their fare in credit for 12 months or rebook in the same class of travel between tomorrow and Wednesday, February 22 without fare difference, penalty or service fees.
They also asked anyone who booked through a third-party agent to contact the agent directly.
"These schedule adjustments will cause significant flow-on effects while the airline works through getting customers on those services to their original destinations and crew and planes back where they need to be. This may take a few days to recover," a spokesperson said.
"We understand that many of our customers will be affected by this emergency, and we want to assure them that we’re here to help," Morgan said.
MetService said it expects to see impacts from the cyclone start from tomorrow. They will begin in the north and spread south to other parts of northern and central New Zealand.
"This is expected to be a widespread and significant weather event," MetService warned.
SHARE ME