Air New Zealand says nearly all passengers booked to fly on its ATR 72-500 fleet tomorrow will be able to travel.
Air New Zealand passengers faced further travel disruption today caused by the grounding of its 11 ATR aircraft due to safety concerns disrupting the travel plans of thousands of passengers.
The airline cancelled most ATR services operated by subsidiary Mount Cook Airline after hairline cracks were found in the cockpit of one aircraft during routine overnight maintenance. An inspection of the entire fleet revealed similar damage on another two planes.
About 2000 Air New Zealand passengers were not be able to travel today and Air New Zealand said the return of another three ATRs in to service had been delayed till tomorrow. About 3000 passengers were affected yesterday.
Air New Zealand spokesman Mark Street said passengers were being prioritised according to their frequent flyer status and booking class.
Mount Cook Airlines general manager Sarah Williamson, said about 97 per cent of passengers could be accommodated tomorrow as more of the grounded aircraft returned to service.
"As a result of more aircraft re-entering service we will be able to get nearly all of our passengers to their destination, albeit there will be changes to the timing of some flights," Ms Williamson said.
A total of five ATRs would be back in service by the end of tomorrow, with a further two expected due on Thursday, she said.
Three aircraft would need to have cracked components replaced. That work was expected to be completed by Sunday, Ms Williamson said.
Air New Zealand chief pilot Captain David Morgan said the cracks were found in a non-structural part of the fuselage at about the pilots' knee height.
Engineers discovered cracks while changing a cockpit window on Saturday night.
That process required part of the instrument panel to be removed, exposing a non-structural part of the fuselage.
Mr Morgan said the cracking did not present a danger to the passengers safety and would not have led to a sudden decompression during the flight.
However, the fleet was grounded till engineers had consulted with the French manufacturers of the planes and fully understood the significance of the damage.
The inspections were be carried out in conjunction with aircraft French manufacturer ATR, who are working around the clock to assist.
Mount Cook today serviced, at least once, all of its usual ports except Napier.
Napier was still being serviced by fellow subsidiary Air Nelson's regular services using 50-seat Q300 turboprop aircraft.
Additional Airbus A320 and Boeing 737 jet services were operating on a number of routes high demand routes.
Routes being serviced by jets include those between Wellington-Dunedin, Christchurch-Hamilton, Christchurch-Wellington, Christchurch-Dunedin and Christchurch-Queenstown.
Source: http://www.stuff.co.nz
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