Air New Zealand borrows A380 to rescue passengers stranded by Auckland floods with additional flights

Air New Zealand says it is undertaking one of the biggest customer recoveries in the airline’s history as it tries to rebook customers stranded by closure of Auckland Airport in floods. Almost 9000 customers were affected by the shutdown of New Zealand’s biggest international airport. With few spare seats to rebook passengers on, the airline has sought to upgauge aircraft or fly additional services to clear the backlog. In Singapore where stranded passengers were told that there were few available seats until the end of February, the airline has worked with their partners Singapore Airlines to put passengers from the delayed NZ283 onto an A380 jumbo, adding 200 places for travellers. Operators Singapore Airlines say they upgauged SQ285 / NZ3285 from a Boeing 777 at the request of Air New Zealand, and is due to arrive with its additional passengers shortly after 1pm today.<br/>