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New Zealand has finally lifted border restrictions and quarantine requirements for Australians entering the country for the first time since the trans-Tasman bubble was paused in July.
As of 11:59pm on Tuesday, 12 April, Australians citizens and residents from anywhere in the world are now once again free to enter the country without entering government-mandated managed isolation and quarantine (MIQ).
Instead, fully vaccinated Aussies must simply present either a negative PCR COVID-19 test within 48 hours of departing for New Zealand, or a supervised Rapid Antigen Test (RAT) within 24 hours.
Upon arrival in New Zealand, travellers will be provided an additional two RATs to be taken on day 0/1 and 5/6 of their travel.
All travellers must also complete a travel declaration prior to entering the country.
The first flight to touch down from Australia following the easing of restrictions was a Qantas Boeing 737, performing flight QF157 from Melbourne, which departed just after 7:30pm and landed at Auckland International Airport at 12:49am, less than one hour after the border opened.
The second arrived just after 6:00am, when an Air New Zealand Boeing 787 Dreamliner landed from Perth, after departing the Western Australia capital at 8:19pm local time as flight NZ1786.
It marked the first time that Australians have been free to enter New Zealand without quarantine since New Zealand Prime Minister Jacinda Ardern paused the trans-Tasman bubble indefinitely in July, as Omicron began to take hold in NSW and Victoria.
Dozens of flights are expected to land across Auckland, Wellington and Christchurch airports today from Australia.
In fact, Auckland Airport said it is expecting to see at least 3,000 Australians walk through its doors on Wednesday alone.
“But our really busy days will be the first and last days of the school holidays – Friday, 15 April and Sunday, 1 May,” said Auckland Airport’s general manager aeronautical commercial Scott Tasker.
“On those days we’re expecting more than 10,000 passengers to arrive and depart internationally – roughly 30 per cent of pre-COVID demand but the busiest the terminal has been since March 2020.
“So, we’re already seeing international traveller numbers tracking above last year’s trans-Tasman quarantine-free period.”
Airlines announcing restarts or increases in frequency to Auckland Airport have included Air New Zealand, Jetstar, Qantas, Air Tahiti Nui, Korean Air, Aircalin, Air Canada, Air Chathams, Malaysia Airlines and LATAM, the airport said.
Meanwhile, flag carrier Air New Zealand will ferry 4,000 Australians across the Tasman on Wednesday, with 11 near-full flights arriving from Melbourne, Sydney, the Gold Coast, Brisbane and Perth.
Air New Zealand chief customer and sales officer Leanne Geraghty said, “This is the first step in welcoming international visitors back to our shores and we couldn’t be more excited for both New Zealand and Air New Zealand.
“We’ve seen high demand across the Tasman with Aussies keen to reconnect with friends and whānau both in New Zealand and Australia,” she added.
“To help with this, last week we added an extra 96 trans-Tasman flights for April through to June, an increase of approximately 20,000 seats.
“We’ve also been ramping up capacity for the winter period so Aussies can enjoy our fantastic ski slopes here in New Zealand.”
Anne
says:You seem to have forgotten that there is a cohort of Australians that are vaccine free and therefore NZ’s borders are still very much closed.
It is incredibly disappointing to see how easy it has been to convince people that a whole section of our human family is as good as ghosts.
jarden
says:Finally New Zealand is slowly opening up to the outside world and one of the last countries to do it on the planet
Jim
says:Jim im so glad that the borders have reopend for us im fully vacinated with 3 covid shots.aroha nui to nz.