New Zealand: Foreign air crews must stay in Government managed isolation hotels during stopovers

Foreign air crew on stopovers in New Zealand will now stay in the Government’s manage isolation facilities. New Zealand Aviation Coalition co-chair Justin Tighe-Umbers said the 11 airlines flying to New Zealand would all meet the Ministry of Health request. Six airlines were already using Government managed isolation facilities and the rest were managing their way out of contracts with existing accommodation providers and were expected to be using official isolation hotels by the end of September, Tighe-Umbers said. Until now overseas in bound air crew have been required to self-isolate in accommodation that has been approved by their airline. The accommodation must have met or exceeded the criteria for accommodation in a managed facility. The crew had to travel directly to the hotel from the airport and remain in their room using the hotel room service until they travelled back to the airport for their next flight. Airlines would continue to pay the cost of accommodating their air crews, Tighe-Umbers said. “Air crew already following very strict processes on arrival in NZ and they’ve been audited by the Ministry of Health with no serious findings,” Tighe-Umbers said. “These changes are not about addressing any problem with international air crew.”<br/>