Air New Zealand (ANZ) plans to resume operations in the lower South Island this afternoon, as ash plumes from a volcano eruption in Chile continue to affect flights in the region.
The Star Alliance carrier, which cancelled some flights yesterday due to increased volcanic ash, said a new forecast from the New Zealand Metservice has allowed it to resume flights to and from Christchurch, Dunedin and Invercargill.
However, services to and from Queenstown will remain cancelled, it added.
Airservices Australia said the ash cloud is not expected to affect any Australian cities in the next 24 hours, with ash having cleared from Perth and Tasmania.
Qantas Airways' Australian domestic services are operating as scheduled today, although a few flights are cancelled as there is no aircraft in position due to earlier disruptions, it said. It has, however, cancelled all its flights to and from New Zealand today for the fourth day in a row. It expects to operate all Australian domestic flights tomorrow.
In addition, Qantas has postponed yesterday's flights to and from Buenos Aires a further 24 hours to tomorrow.
Virgin Australia's Pacific Blue has also cancelled flights to and from New Zealand today, after cancelling six flights yesterday.
Source: Air Transport Intelligence news
