Quarantine-free flights have resumed
today between Australia and New Zealand after almost 400 days.
Thousands of travellers will board 29
flights operated by Qantas and Jetstar to take advantage of the two-way “trans-Tasman
bubble”, named after the sea between the two countries, that has opened today. Quarantine-free
flights from New Zealand to Australia have been operating since October.
Qantas and Jetstar will resume services
to all 15 destinations they operated pre-Covid with the former launching the first ever
international flight from Gold Coast in Australia to Auckland in New Zealand.
The first flight of the day was Jetstar’s
JQ201 from Sydney to Auckland at 6.15am with Qantas following at 8am with QF151
from Melbourne to Auckland. Qantas said that its first Sydney-Auckland service, at
9.05am, operated with a full business class cabin.
Qantas Group CEO Alan Joyce said. “Quarantine-free
travel has been almost 400 days in the making. Reopening these flights across
the Tasman is a very important milestone in the recovery from the pandemic for
Australia and New Zealand but also aviation and tourism.”
Anyone travelling on the flights must
not have had a positive Covid-19 test result in the previous 14-day period, must not
be awaiting the results of a test and must not exhibit Covid symptoms.
Passengers who have
come from anywhere other than Australia in the previous 14 days are not
permitted to fly.
Australia’s Prime Minister Scott
Morrison said, “Our countries share a Single Economic Market, and two-way
travel across the Tasman will help drive the economic recovery for both
countries while we continue to navigate the Covid-19 global pandemic,
especially in the travel and tourism sectors. It will also enable closer
trans-Tasman business engagement, which will drive broader economic activity in
both Australia and New Zealand.”