The one-off travel bubble between New Zealand and Australia is back on track. The Australian government has lifted its pause over quarantine-free flights from New Zealand. This is welcome news for beleaguered airlines and their passengers.
Initially, Australia discontinued quarantine-free travel from New Zealand at the end of January following a small COVID-19 outbreak in Auckland. But after a meeting with New Zealand public health officials on Saturday, the Australian government said ‘green-zone’ flights between New Zealand and Australia could resume from 12:01 AEDT on Sunday 21 February.
“Green-zone” resumes flights, with a condition
What is a green zone flight? It refers to the zones created at airports in Australia and New Zealand to separate passengers arriving on a flight whose passengers can skip the quarantine and those who cannot. Currently, only a selected number of flights from New Zealand qualify as a green zone flight. Everyone else, on a red-zone flight, must go in a 14-day quarantine regime, usually in a hotel recommended by the government.
There is a condition for resuming these green-zone flights. All passengers traveling from New Zealand in the past 14 days on a green zone flight, which has been in Auckland for the past 14 days (unless traveling at Auckland Airport), will need to provide proof during the check-in of a negative PCR test performed. depart within 72 hours of the scheduled flight. The Australian Government has also stated that routine before departure and on arrival will be continued.
Only three airlines operate services across the Tasman Sea
Air New Zealand currently does most of the flying between New Zealand and Australia. The airline usually operates three flights a week to Brisbane and four or five services a week to Sydney. These flights are a mix of green-zone and red-zone services. Any Air New Zealand flights to Melbourne do not currently carry passengers. Melbourne Airport has again temporarily stopped receiving international passengers due to ongoing quarantine management problems there.
The Australian airline Qantas operates approximately three services a week between Auckland and Sydney using A330-300 aircraft. Jetstar operates one service per week between Auckland and Sydney. The three-hour and forty-minute flight takes place every Tuesday with A320-200 aircraft.
Since the end of last year, the travel bubble between New Zealand has been operating on a one-way basis. Most Kiwis were able to enter Australia and circumvent the quarantine requirements. However, New Zealand have so far refused to return the favor. That will change next month when the long-awaited two-way travel bubble begins.
A two-way travel bubble will be launched in March
If it does go ahead, it will be a welcome boost for the three airlines that are currently managing their weakened services across the Tasman Sea.
In 2019, the Australian government’s statistics revealed that 7,845,243 passengers flew between New Zealand and Australia that year, or vice versa. Several airlines, including Qantas, Jetstar, Virgin Australia, Air New Zealand, LATAM, Emirates, Singapore Airlines and China Airlines, offered 47,555 flights over the Tasman that year.
2020 is going to be another bumper year for those airlines. But COVID-19 put an end to it. Airline and passenger traffic on routes between Australia and New Zealand ran at a small fraction of 2019 levels. The long-awaited two-way travel bubble will help a lot to start passenger traffic across the Tasman Sea again. Airline and their passengers will hope the deal goes into effect, despite the inevitable next small COVID outbreak.