Flights resume after three days - TONGA DAILY NEWS 15 January 2015. Fiji Airways resumed its flight into and out of Tonga earlier this morning, following cancellations of flights earlier in the week due to volcanic eruptions near Hunga Tonga and Hunga Ha’apai. And an Air New Zealand flight touched down at Fua’amotu Airport around 7.38pm on Wednesday night, bringing home locals who were stranded in New Zealand and taking back tourists who were stranded here. Regional airlines have been grounded for three days, affecting over a 1000 passengers, among them 600 Air New Zealand customers. But Air New Zealand and Virgin Australia are still monitoring the situation, with an Airbus A320 returning to Auckland just three hours into the flight earlier this morning. Fiji Airways’ Lavi Maka said they were operating as normal again, with flights scheduled to leave for Suva tomorrow afternoon and early Saturday morning, with a flight to Nadi later on Saturday evening. She said they will continue to monitor the situation and the head office in Nadi will be making the call on whether to cancel flights if there is a risk to the flight crews and passengers. Meanwhile, Air New Zealand is also keeping close monitoring of the situation. Earlier today, friends and family of passengers were waiting this morning at Auckland airport. Sharri Robertson dropped her friend’s 12-year-old son off at Auckland airport this morning, only to have to turn around and pick him up again. She said getting information on when the flight was scheduled to land had been difficult, having to go from one information desk to another. “We were told the flight was landing at 11.15. It’s 11.45 now and I’m not sure if I’ve missed him.” Louena Tuiafitu says she has been trying to get back home to Tonga since Monday. “Today we were halfway there when the pilot told us we had to turn around. I’m exhausted and tired. My husband’s in Tonga waiting for me.” Her 14-year-old son Joseph says he just wants to get home. “I just want to see my Dad. We’re staying with family pretty close to the airport, but we have to keep coming back every morning to see if it’s safe to fly.” Blue Banana Resort owner Shane Egan says they have a perfect weather day, but with the wind coming from the volcano, just 56 kilometres away, the plume was extending toward them. “It is still puffing away but the cloud and ash is coming toward us,” he said. There was no ash fall on Tongatapu, but Egan says it is raining into the sea north of them. “I guess it would be a problem for the planes.” New Zealander Simon Johnston is also stuck in Tonga, at the north western end of Tongatapu. “A few pretty impressive eruptions this morning so far, not just white ash but black ash as well,” he said. The Tonga Daily News has also been keeping a close watch on the eruptions off the coast of Nuku’alofa. In a bizarre twist, unrelated to the Hunga Ha’apai volcano, Tonga’s seas have turned red with a large algal bloom killing marine life. One Tongan news website reports people have gone to the shore to see the ocean turn red near the capital Nuku’alofa. “Many could be heard saying that it was a sign that the end was near,” it reported. As the bloom has been seen in Vava’u, in the north, before the eruption, there is dispute over whether it is linked to Hunga Ha’apai. But Egan is in no doubt. “It wasn’t there before the volcano, and now it is everywhere around us.” Johnston says it appears to be red algae washing up onto the shores, in increasing volumes. Tonga’s navy has captured dramatic images of a submarine volcano erupting near the country’s capital Nuku’alofa. It shows eruptions of tephra and ash and a wide area of ash on the water. Hunga Ha’apai erupted out of the Pacific Ocean in 2009, creating an island. The latest eruption was first reported by a fisherman who came back from the area on December 19. The volcano sits on the edge of the Tonga-Kermadec Trench that runs from Samoa through Tonga and down New Zealand’s east coast. The naturally occurring algal bloom first hit the whale watching Vava’u Islands in the north of Tonga with locals reporting dead fish and a strong smell. Yesterday a similar looking bloom was seen around Nuku’alofa, drawing onlookers to the port area. The Ministry of Fisheries is monitoring the incident. IMAGES: A closer look at the volcanic eruptions at Hunga Tonga and Hunga Haapai as seen from the air. Photo: Courtesy of NZ High Commission/TDN tongadailynews.to/?p=9855
Posted on: Thu, 15 Jan 2015 03:16:15 +0000