Last week, wild weather caused multiple flight cancellations, exacerbated by staff illness and high demand during the school holidays.
The airline said it expected several hundred customers to be affected by flight cancellations in Queenstown yesterday.
“We have reaccommodated customers with hotel accommodation, ground transfers and rebookings to new flights,” the airline said.
“As part of the effort, Air New Zealand is launching a 300-seat 787 from Auckland-Christchurch-Auckland today.
“There will also be additional flights today from Christchurch to Queenstown and Wellington to help customers return home.”
Air New Zealand said the backlog may not be cleared until later this week.
“Unfortunately, we are still experiencing a perfect storm from a very busy end to the school holidays, with ongoing weather and crew illness causing disruptions.
“Recovery could take several days, and we are working on possible alternative transportation options for customers and encouraging people on non-emergency travel to put their fare on the card.”
The airline said that if the reason for cancellation was within its control, it would provide overnight accommodation, either arranged at the airport or at an agreed value with a receipt.
“If a flight is canceled due to weather and customers have to stay overnight, this will normally be covered by the customer or through their travel insurance.
“However, if a customer is halfway through their journey in a layover and the next flight is disrupted, we do our best to arrange suitable accommodation for the night.”
Customers should subscribe to Air New Zealand’s Travel Alerts service and check its arrival and departure page, the airline said.
Those who booked to travel on affected flights were urged to reschedule their trip to another date by managing their booking online.
“Customers who have booked between now and August 31 can keep the value of their rate in credit for 12 months from the time they applied for their credit.
“Customers can easily sign up for credit via the Air New Zealand app or website under the Manage Booking tab, by selecting Request a credit.
“They can also use the app or website to change their flights to another date and waive their change fee, although a fare difference may apply.”
Sara Irvine, general manager of business and community affairs at Queenstown Airport, said people faced extended wait times and delays as airlines tried to clear the backlog on Sunday.
“Yesterday was one of the busiest days of the year and it hasn’t been this busy in a long time,” Irvine said.
While Sundays were always busy during the school holidays, she said there was added pressure due to previous flight disruptions and staff illness.
“We expect it to be resolved from Queenstown today. We don’t expect people to be stranded after today.
“We join the airlines to apologize for the inconvenience and to thank the people for the kindness and patience they have shown to the people who try to help them as much as possible.”