Air New Zealand outlines ‘safe travel zone’ ops to Australia

Air New Zealand has outlined its operations under a bilateral “safe travel zone” arrangement that allows one-way quarantine-free travel from New Zealand to Australia, starting Friday. The carrier currently operates eight return flights between Auckland and Sydney each week, and is looking to operate six of these as quarantine-free flights. Air New Zealand’s CE Greg Foran says that defining quarantine and quarantine-free flights are key to carrying passengers safely and identifying those with travel not originating in New Zealand. “The quarantine-free flights will be for travellers originating from New Zealand who are flying from Auckland to Sydney and are not required to quarantine on arrival in Australia. Quarantine flights will be open to passengers who do not meet the ‘Safe Travel Zone’ criteria and will be required to quarantine on arrival in Australia.” Passengers travelling from New Zealand will have to declare that they were in New Zealand the 14 days before travel and are subject to health screening upon arrival in Sydney. At the initial stage, this arrangement only allows for travel to Australia’s New South Wales, where Sydney is the state capital, and the Northern Territory. Under Australian State restrictions, Air New Zealand is not taking bookings for travel beyond Sydney to destinations within Australia. Separately, the New Zealand government requires returning travellers to quarantine for 14 days upon arrival.<br/>