Kenneth Anning, 84, ignored warnings not to fly in the dark before his Robinson R22 crashed into trees in North Queensland.

In total, the airline said it was forced to cancel 509 services because of the extreme weather, while 10,000 international customers were affected.

The natural disaster, which peaked at 7.8 on the Richter scale, has already claimed the lives of more than 9,500 people in Türkiye and 3,574 in Syria as of 13 February.

At Auckland Airport on Monday, 94 per cent of departures were cancelled, while Air New Zealand halted much of its network, including all Tasman flights.