star

Air NZ has cancelled flights in and out of Wellington, Hokitika, Nelson, New Plymouth and Queenstown due to ex-Cyclone Gita. Flights are still operating into and out of Blenheim, Kapiti Coast and Palmerston North, but the airline is closely monitoring conditions at those locations. Gita is expected to bring up to 200mm of rainfall, winds up to almost 150km an hour and offshore waves up to 10m to parts of the country over the next 12 to 24 hours. The airline cancelled all services into and out of Wellington from 2.45pm until midnight Tuesday, which may have a flow on effect to other services. By midday, the cancellations for the remainder of Tuesday for the other airports were all in effect. Air NZ planned to operate additional flights between Auckland and Wellington on Wednesday to accommodate disrupted customers. The airline said customers booked to travel to or from any of the affected airports were advised to consult the arrivals and departures information on its website for up-to-date schedule information.<br/>

Chairman of EgyptAir Safwat Musallam Tuesday said that the company is waiting for the completion of some measures ahead of resuming flights between Cairo and Moscow. He added that bookings for the flights will open once these arrangements are completed in line with an agreement between the Egyptian Civil Aviation Ministry and the Russian Ministry of Transport. Under the agreement, operation will start with three flights per week on Sundays, Tuesdays and Thursdays. On January 4, Russian President Vladimir Putin decreed to resume flights from Moscow to Cairo after a 26-month suspension, Sputnik news agency reported. Russia suspended flights with Egypt following a plane crash over Sinai in late 2015.<br/>