Air NZ cancels flights

By Phil Boeyen, ShareChat Business News Editor

Wednesday 12th September 2001

Air New Zealand (NZSE: AIRVA) has cancelled three flights to Honolulu and Los Angeles today and reports that the UK has also closed its airspace in response to the US airliner terrorist strikes.

Air NZ reports one of its flights, NZ2 from Auckland to LA, turned back and arrived safely in Auckland at 8.20am Wednesday.

One of the hijacked US flights which crashed this morning belonged to Star Alliance member United Airlines. It was travelling from Boston to LA and was a code-share flight for the New Zealand carrier.

However Air NZ says all indications are that it had no ticketed passengers on board.

All other Air New Zealand - Ansett domestic and international flights, other than those to and from the United States or the United Kingdom, are operating normally.

The company says it is closely monitoring the situation to ensure that all flights worldwide continue to operate safely.

There has been no word on whether the company will continue with its planned announcement tomorrow of its full-year earnings, expected to show a huge writedown of its Ansett subsidiary.

A decision on whether Qantas will buy Ansett is currently awaited. The decision was due today but could well be postponed in light of the major disruption to the world's air travel business.

Comments from our readers

No comments yet