Auckland Airport's international terminal is fully operational again after a fire caused evacuations and flight delays on Saturday.
The backlog of delayed flights has now been cleared and there are no further issues.
Auckland Airport confirmed yesterday two separate areas of the international terminal had been evacuated.
Check in, international departures, baggage hall and international arrivals were evacuated, the airport confirmed via Twitter.
Auckland Airport international terminal evacuated
According to Air New Zealand spokesperson Justice Kamu, there was a fire in the air conditioning vent at the international terminal building.
He said the sprinkler system put out the flames.
About 5000 people were evacuated, 16 flights were delayed and three rescheduled.
The fire was extinguished quickly, but there was a large amount of water to clear up before passengers could pick up their bags and get processed.
"Our number one priority in any emergency is the safety of our guests, airport workers and others on the Auckland Airport precinct," said Anna Cassels-Brown, Auckland Airport's general manager of Operations.
"We are thankful for the emergency services response and assistance to bring the situation under control and that there were no injuries. However, we apologise to our guests for the disruption to their travel plans, and to family and friends waiting for arriving travellers.
"We know that there were areas for improvement including communications with guests, their welfare during the event and other issues. These will be the subject of a full review to identify areas for improvement.
"Lastly, we want to thank our airline, border agency and service provider partners and their staff who worked with us throughout the night to help manage the incident and keep all of our guests safe."
Newshub.
