Queensland’s state capital is only the third Australian city to receive the special flights from Auckland.
Photo: Brisbane Local Marketing
Several months after launching quarantine-free flights to Sydney and Melbourne, New Zealand’s national carrier has just done the same for Brisbane. Flight NZ147 departed Auckland at 7:40 a.m. yesterday, with all passengers aboard exempt from mandatory self-isolation in Queensland. Those looking to board these flights are required to complete the Australia Travel Declaration form at least 72 hours before departure, stating that they have remained in New Zealand for at least 14 consecutive days preceding the trip. The declaration must be presented when boarding and also on arrival in Australia.
Leanne Geraghty, Air New Zealand’s Chief Customer and Sales Officer, said in a statement, “We currently operate five return flights per week between Auckland and Brisbane. Three of these services will be quarantine-free flights, while the remaining two will be quarantine flights. Quarantine flights are not able to be booked by people beginning their journey in New Zealand.”
The Safe Travel Zone arrangement, which allows one-way quarantine-free travel from New Zealand to Australia, is the precursor to the much-anticipated trans-Tasman travel bubble. New Zealand Prime Minister Jacinda Ardern previously said she was eyeing the bubble’s launch by the end of March, though the recent Sydney outbreak has cast doubt on whether it will go ahead as planned.
In related news, New Zealand will soon be tightening entry requirements for arrivals from two especially hard-hit countries. Starting at 11:59 p.m. on January 15, all customers traveling to or transiting through New Zealand from the United Kingdom and the United States will need to show a negative test result for Covid-19 before departure.
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