Air New Zealand Volcanic Ash Update 6

The New Zealand Metservice has advised that low areas of ash down to 10,000ft continue to cover parts of the east coast of the South Island affecting flights into and out of Invercargill, Dunedin and Christchurch only. A total of eleven services were cancelled yesterday evening into and out of these airports as a result.

"Since areas of ash arrived in our airspace on Sunday, Air New Zealand has been working closely with CAA and Metservice to ensure flight paths continue to avoid areas of ash, however ash at these new low levels gives us no choice but to cancel some services this morning," says General Manager Airline Operations and Safety and Chief Pilot Captain David Morgan.

All domestic services up until midday today are cancelled to and from:

* Invercargill * Dunedin * Christchurch

Trans-Tasman services from Christchurch up until midday today are cancelled affecting the following flights:

* NZ895 Christchurch-Melbourne which was due to depart at 0900 * NZ803 Christchurch-Brisbane which was due to depart at 0910

A further update will be provided before midday.

"Air New Zealand will not fly through ash and will continue to take guidance from CAA and the Metservice to ensure we can carry passengers where safe routes and altitudes are available," says Captain Morgan.

Air New Zealand has operated almost 2,000 flights and carried approximately 100,000 passengers since ash arrived in New Zealand airspace on Sunday.

Air New Zealand is proud to be a member of Star Alliance. The Star Alliance network was established in 1997 as the first truly global airline alliance to offer worldwide reach, recognition and seamless service to the international traveller. Its acceptance by the market has been recognised by numerous awards, including the Air Transport World Market Leadership Award, Best Airline Alliance by both Business Traveller Magazine and Skytrax. The member airlines are: Adria Airways, Aegean Airlines, Air Canada, Air China, Air New Zealand, ANA, Asiana Airlines, Austrian, Blue1, bmi, Brussels Airlines, Continental Airlines, Croatia Airlines, EGYPTAIR, LOT Polish Airlines, Lufthansa, Scandinavian Airlines, Singapore Airlines, South African Airways, Spanair, SWISS, TAM Airlines, TAP Portugal, Turkish Airlines, THAI, United and US Airways. Air India, Avianca-TACA, Copa Airlines and Ethiopian Airlines have been announced as future members. Overall, the Star Alliance network offers 21,000 daily flights to 1,160 airports in 181 countries.

BUDGET 2012:
Parliament Debate Live - Video Of Budget 2011
Keith Ng Interactive Graphic: How the Budget Breaks Down
BUDGET 2012 - FULL COVERAGE: Reports / Analysis - Press Kit - Reaction (from everybody) - Previews (from everybody) - Pre-Budget Announcements

Gordon Campbell: On the Budget’s Spreadsheet Victories

It wasn’t as if expectations were sky high, exactly. Chances are, it was always more likely that we’d be seeing Bigfoot rampage through the Beehive lock-up than catch a glimpse of a credible growth agenda from this government. More >>

Sludge Budget Report - Short The Dollar! MEMO: To international bankers FROM: C.D. Sludge Please short the dollar! It'll be good for both you and us. And you know you want to. Greexit, Eurogeddon... watch out... flight to quality and all that. Follow your instincts. The NZ Debt Management Office has been so surprised at the unprecedentedly low interest rates that it can borrow at that it has already entirely pre-funded the 2013 fiscal deficit - all $8 billion of it! More >>

Pattrick Smellie Comment: Doddling along the best we can hope forCriticising Budgets for lacking vision or imagination is like shooting fish in a barrel, but even so, this year's Budget again feels like a missed opportunity. Perhaps it's the intrusion of real world needs that means the government couldn't make better political use of the $558.8 million it expects to gather in its first partial asset sale. More >>