Trans-Tasman bubble to finally begin this month
A trans-Tasman bubble between Australia and New Zealand will finally launch later this month.
It will begin on 16 October, allowing travel from New Zealand to New South Wales and the Northern Territory.
That allows Kiwis to enter the states without the need to quarantine om arrival.
It is ‘the best news the industry has had in months’ Qantas Group said as it opened flights on the Sydney-Auckland and Sydney-Christchurch routes.
"It means we’ll be able to get more planes back in the sky and more of our people back to work," Qantas Group CEO Alan Joyce said.
Qantas and Jetstar will operate flights but not Virgin Australia as quarantine-free access is only inbound to Australia for the time being.
"We’ll continue to review our network and reintroduce short-haul international services where demand and border restrictions allow us to," Virgin said.
It is unclear how popular it will be for general tourism as Kiwis will still have to quarantine on return to New Zealand.
However it should help more Australians stuck in New Zealand return home, said Deputy Prime Minister Michael McCormack.
"It’s great for family and friends who can be reunited and for people needing to travel for a job," Qantas chief Joyce said.
Qantas said it will add more flights when other Australian states are added to the partial trans-Tasman bubble.
Written by Ray Montgomery, Asia Editor
TravelMole Editorial Team
Editor for TravelMole North America and Asia pacific regions. Ray is a highly experienced (15+ years) skilled journalist and editor predominantly in travel, hospitality and lifestyle working with a huge number of major market-leading brands. He has also cover in-depth news, interviews and features in general business, finance, tech and geopolitical issues for a select few major news outlets and publishers.
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