Thousands of tourists and international students arrived in New Zealand from Australia on Wednesday, some to reunite with family and friends, in further sign of reopening in countries that have enforced some of the world’s strictest coronavirus restrictions.
In the largest influx of new arrivals in many months, at least 4,000 passengers on Air New Zealand flights alone arrived at airports across New Zealand, many of them Australians with family living in New Zealand, after the border reopened for Australian citizens and permanent residents arriving from all over the world, as well as up to 5,000 international students.
New Zealand citizens have already been able to enter and the country plans to reopen in a phased manner to travelers from elsewhere in the world in the coming months.
At Auckland International Airport, Justine Kanapu told national broadcaster Radio New Zealand that she was waiting to see her mother – who was traveling from the Australian city of Perth – for the first time in nearly three years. “We missed a lot: my parents’ 60th birthday, some funerals, some really special moments and some really sad moments,” she said. “So I can’t wait to see my mom.”
Nearly all flights have been canceled since the closure of a “bubble” over the Tasman Sea in July ended most travel between the two countries. For some families, it was the first time in years to get back together.
At midnight local time, New Zealand also eased some additional pandemic restrictions, including relinquishing a mask mandate in many environments and encouraging returns to the workplace.
Australia, which has largely reopened its borders to international travelers, has allowed travel from New Zealand since October. But New Zealand is only now following. The change comes after a major outbreak of the Omicron variant, with New Zealand’s reported daily cases and deaths rising well above the country’s previous records.
Despite multiple efforts to establish sustainable quarantine-free travel between Australia and New Zealand, a “bubble” between the two countries has been halted repeatedly during the pandemic due to outbreaks in both countries. Many people chose not to travel at all to avoid getting stuck, leading to months of separation.
Before the pandemic, Auckland International Airport was a major hub, with more than 21 million passengers passing through in the fiscal year ending 2019, according to the airport. Since March 2020, the international terminal has been virtually abandoned.
In preparation for the reopening of the border, New Zealand’s flag carrier Air New Zealand has added a further 96 flights from April to June, for a total of 20,000 seats, between Australia and New Zealand, said Leanne Geraghty, chief executive officer the airline’s customer and sales officer. †
Both Australia and New Zealand have adopted a ‘zero Covid’ approach to much of the pandemic, closing their borders with few exceptions in March 2020 and mandating a two-week hotel quarantine for returnees. citizens upon arrival. People arriving in New Zealand on Wednesday were required to be vaccinated and were only asked to take a coronavirus test before departure and retest the days after their arrival.