Two-way quarantine-free travel between Australia and New Zealand might resume by March 2021, with NZ Prime Minister Jacinda Ardern saying her Government has agreed in principle to open a trans-Tasman travel bubble with Australia early next yr.
Talking at her closing post-Cabinet press conference of the yr, Ardern stated there was an agreement that the bubble would open within the first quarter of 2021.
A beginning date for the new travel arrangements could be announced “within the new yr as soon as (the) remaining details are locked down” between each nation, she stated, on the proviso that they continue to be successfully COVID-free.
Ardern informed TVNZ’s Breakfast there have been still a “number of points” to work through, such as what would happen within the occasion of a COVID-19 outbreak as soon as the bubble was up and operating.
“We would wish to know the way we’re coping with the internal borders with Australia and likewise we must have the airlines prepared,” Ardern stated.
“We are fairly keen to see segregated airline staff for quarantine-free travel.” However, she added these issues had been “not insurmountable”.
The Trans-Tasman Safe Border Group – comprised of government agencies, health experts, airports, Qantas, and Air New Zealand – has already drawn up a detailed blueprint for how the travel would reopen.
Australian Health Minister Greg Hunt stated Australia would now transfer shortly to open the journey bubble.
“We consciously opened up Australia to individuals coming from New Zealand as a result of their case numbers had been negligible, and we knew there would come a time when our case numbers gave them confidence,” Hunt stated.
“We have already dedicated to the principle of a two-way bubble, we have established it as a one-way bubble… now this gives the prospect for New Zealanders or Australians to go to New Zealand – whether or not it is for associates, household, weddings, funerals, births, holidays, business – without having to quarantine.”
Ramping up flights
Air New Zealand, Qantas, and Virgin Australia will all be keen to spice up their flights throughout the pond and faucet into pent-up demand for the travel.
Australia and New Zealand have long been one another’s primary journey vacation spot: 2019 noticed some 2.6 million residents of every nation jetting forwards and backward throughout the Tasman, in line with Stats NZ.
A spokesman for Qantas stated the airline was “trying ahead to including important quantities of capability throughout the Tasman as soon as particulars concerning the bubble and when it’ll start are confirmed.”
In a press release issued this afternoon, Virgin Australia stated it welcomed the New Zealand government’s “in-principle decision to establish quarantine-free journey with Australia.”
The airline at present lists greater than 70 companies to New Zealand per week on sale from March 28 2021 and says “the choice offers us time to organize plane and crew for re-entry into New Zealand skies.”
“We’ll continue to review and regulate our schedule according to demand and the beginning dates for the quarantine-free travel being labored through by the respective governments.”
A bubble of hope
The concept of an Australia-New Zealand bubble was raised in the early months of the coronavirus pandemic, with Prime Minister Scott Morrison and Ardern beginning discussions in May about reopening their borders.
“If there is any nation in the world with whom we can reconnect with first, undoubtedly that is New Zealand,” Morrison said at the time.
Those hopes were dashed due to subsequent outbreaks in Melbourne, Sydney, and Auckland.
Earlier this month Australia’s nation-wide ban on international travel was extended to March 2021, although exceptions could possibly be brought into place for ‘safe’ destinations such as New Zealand.
Qantas CEO Alan Joyce has also forecast that apart from the prospects of flights to New Zealand and other ‘bubble’ nations, international travel would stay “at a digital standstill” until at least the middle of 2021.
