Air New Zealand is preparing to commence operations under a one-way “Safe Travel Zone” – often called the Trans-Tasman Travel Bubble. The airline will fly alongside Qantas and subsidiary Jetstar.
From tomorrow, passengers travelling from New Zealand will be able to travel to New South Wales without the requirement for quarantine on arrival in Australia. However, Australian residents are not able to enjoy the same privilege for the time being.
Air New Zealand CEO Greg Foran says that in order for the airline to ensure governmental restrictions are met, it has introduced what’s known as ‘quarantine’ and ‘quarantine-free’ flights.
The quarantine-free flights will be for travellers originating from New Zealand, who are flying from Auckland to Sydney and are not required to quarantine on arrival in Australia.
Quarantine flights will be open to passengers who do not meet the Safe Travel Zone criteria, passengers will also be required to quarantine upon arrival in Australia.
“It’s been a huge undertaking to ensure we are ready for this one-way arrangement. We know passengers onboard may have been waiting a long time to get back to New South Wales. Around 90 percent of those travelling on tomorrow’s flight are booked to travel one-way.”
Greg Foran, CEO, Air New Zealand
Schedules
On Friday 16th October, Qantas, Air NZ and Jetstar will all fly to Sydney from Auckland.
Air New Zealand flight NZ103 will be a quarantine-free flight. It is expected to arrive in Sydney around 12:20 local time.
Qantas flight QF146, operated by a B737, will land in Sydney at 17:55 local time.
Jetstar flight JQ204 will touch-down in Sydney at 13:40 local time.
Air New Zealand is currently operating eight return flights between Auckland and Sydney per week; they are looking to operate two quarantine flights per week, while the remaining flights will be quarantine-free.
Qantas and Jetstar will also operate limited services, which will aid in bringing stranded Australians back home. In total, around 3700 seats will be available each week.