The suspension of SIA passenger flights to Hong Kong will not affect talks on a travel bubble between both cities, said Transport Minister Ong Ye Kung in Parliament on Apr 5. Hong Kong authorities announced last week that SIA flights departing from Singapore will not be allowed to land in Hong Kong from Apr 3 to 16, due to a COVID-19 case on flight SQ882 on Mar 31. The 28-year-old woman was a transit passenger who had travelled from Indonesia. In addition, three other transit passengers on the SIA flight had undergone COVID-19 pre-departure tests at clinics in their places of origin that did not meet Hong Kong’s requirements. "In short, the recent suspension of SQ (Singapore Airlines) flights to Hong Kong does not affect the talks to establish or restore the air traffic bubble that didn't get to start," said Ong. "Any travel bubble will not carry transit passengers," he added.<br/>
star
Kiwis will be able to fly to and from Australia without a stay in a managed isolation hotel from Monday April 19. The date of the much-discussed trans-Tasman bubble was announced by PM Jacinda Ardern after it was finalised at a Cabinet meeting. It will end the year-long period where travel between the two countries was more restricted than it had ever been in the modern era. Ardern said she made the change after Health Director General Ashley Bloomfield told her the risk from Australia was low. “The Director-General of Health considers the risk of transmission of COVID-19 from Australia to New Zealand is low and that quarantine free travel is safe to commence,” Ardern said. Those travelling to or from New Zealand on a quarantine-free flight will not be allowed to travel if they have cold or flu symptoms – however an actual Covid-19 test will likely not be required. Anyone awaiting the result of a Covid-19 test from the last 14 days or who has had a positive Covid-19 test result in the last 14 days will not be able to travel. Masks will be required to be worn on flights.<br/>
Air NZ appears to have taken a punt on when the much-anticipated trans-Tasman travel bubble will open, significantly increasing its schedule on one particular Monday in April. NZ Prime Minister Jacinda Ardern is due to announce at 4pm on Tuesday, NZ time, (2pm AEST) when two-way quarantine-free travel with Australia will commence. It is the first border opening since free-flow travel was stopped just over a year ago. Air NZ has an increased schedule in its booking system from Monday, April 19. It has 23 return services between Auckland and Sydney that week, as opposed to just four return flights this current week. A further clue can be found in the aircraft it has listed to operate on the Auckland to Sydney route. The airline runs 787 Dreamliners across the Tasman, but has publicly said it has retrained staff on its A320 and A321 planes to run Tasman services. The first A321 flight gets underway on April 19. If the schedule holds true, Air NZ is clearly expecting a surge in people wanting to spend a weekend in Sydney – the first Friday of its expanded schedule has five flights to Sydney in a single day.<br/>
An Ethiopian Airlines plane landed at an airport that is still under construction in Zambia, "by mistake," a government official and the carrier announced on Monday. The cargo plane touched down on Sunday at the not-yet-finished airport in Zambia's northern Copperbelt province, which is currently served by the Simon Mwansa Kapwepwe International Airport, some 15 km away. "When he was about to land he was communicating with the radar, and they told him: 'We can't see you,'" the Transport Ministry's permanent secretary Misheck Lungu said. "So he used his sight as he had no control and landed at an airport still under construction." Lungu added that no damage had been incurred and said investigators would be releasing a "comprehensive report."<br/>