Air NZ adds flights between Auckland and London

Air New Zealand is adding extra flights between Auckland and London over the next few days to clear the backlog of passengers following the virtual shutdown of European air travel.Air NZ flight NZ1 landed in Auckland at 5.15am today, the first flight from London since Iceland's Eyjafjallajokull volcano erupted last week, sending an ash cloud kilometres into the sky and spreading across many European countries.

This morning's flight carried about 300 passengers, including Victoria Cross holder Corporal Willie Apiata, and was followed by another later in the morning.Air NZ said it was continuing to make good progress on clearing stranded passengers, and expected to start selling seats to the general public for flights to and from the United Kingdom from the end of next week.

The airline will put on an extra flight from London to Auckland via Los Angeles today, UK time, in addition to two flights already scheduled.An extra flight will leave Auckland for London via Hong Kong on Sunday, in addition to the existing scheduled service.As a result of the total five additional services and placing customers on existing services, Air New Zealand will have cleared more than 90 percent of the backlog of disrupted passengers, the airline said.