Australia and New Zealand flights back up after ash cloud grounds planes

Flights to and from Australia and New Zealand have resumed after the Chilean ash cloud grounded planes.

By Southall Travel -Monday, June 13, 2011 04:41 PM

Australia and New Zealand flights back up after ash cloud grounds planes

Travellers from the UK, who caught flights to Australia or flights to New Zealand and found themselves caught up in the chaos of the ash cloud, have received welcome news.

Airlines have once again resumed flights as they begin the tough challenge of shifting through the backlog of flights.

The grounding of flights was caused by strong winds carrying ash cloud spewing out of Chile's Puyehue volcano.

New Zealand said that it was safe for airlines to fly up to 27,000 feet, 7,000 more than Sunday's original restriction.

Its national carrier, Air New Zealand, has so far been operating flights per usual, but flying under the cloud or away from it.

David Morgan, the airline's chief pilot, said: "We may well be affected later on today and tomorrow because if we can't exit or operate across the Tasman Sea and get to 20,000 feet before we enter into controlled air space then we will have issues in the next few days."

The Puyehue volcano has been dormant for nearly half century before erupting back to life on June 4th 2011.

Written by Alex Cochrane
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