Air New Zealand, Tourism NZ expect two-way trans-Tasman travel bubble by early 2021

Tourism New Zealand and Air New Zealand have revealed they're working on how a two-way travel bubble will work with Australia - which they expect to open within months. Tourism NZ's director of commercial René de Monchy said a travel bubble with all of Australia is expected in Q1 2021. He said that, as with everything else related to COVID-19, deadlines and launch dates for travel have been moving all the time. "There was a moment that we thought it was July, and then it was October, and then of course we had flare-ups in both countries flare-ups between then and now," de Monchy said. "But we have our plans ready and we can push play in a matter of days on a lot of that content. I think that's going to be one of the challenges - there is the possibility that if an announcement is made, there may not be a lot of notice." One of the main benefactors of a trans-Tasman bubble would of course be Air NZ, which also said it was "realistically looking at Q1 next year" as a start date for two-way travel between Australia and Aotearoa. "We were always of the view that Australia needed to open its domestic borders first, and then once that was happening, I think New Zealand would be next on the list," the airline's regional general manager for Australia Kathryn Robertson said. "We know the governments are talking, so that's good. The one-way bubble has definitely been a step in the right direction and we have seen pretty okay loads." The current one-way travel bubble has allowed Air NZ to become familiar with all the processes and protocols that will need to be in place should a bubble be announced.<br/>