Trans-Tasman travel bubble: Canberra airport asks people to register interest for New Zealand flights

Pressure is mounting on governments to reopen trans-Tasman travel as industry groups ask for travellers’ expressions of interest in New Zealand flights leaving as early as 1 July. The Australian Chamber of Commerce has proposed the Canberra to Wellington route as a “a proof of concept” for the resumption of international flights for “post Covid-19” travel. Canberra airport has opened a register of interest for flights on 1 and 2 July, however it notes that the dates may be pushed back subject to government approval. Notionally these would be followed by several weeks of twice-daily flights before opening up to other Australian capital cities. “The symbolic route will show we have developed a safe and effective method of air travel and encourage the extension of the aviation networks to other destinations across Australia and New Zealand over time,” the Australian Chamber of Commerce and Industry’s tourism chair, John Hart, said. “The tourism opportunity for Australia is to tempt more of the 3.1m New Zealanders that travel overseas to come to Australia this year. Pre-Covid we received around 1.3m visitors from New Zealand, leaving about 1.8m holidays up for grabs.” The managing director of the Canberra airport, Stephen Byron, said there had already been significant interest.<br/>