'Several thousand' Australians book Queenstown getaways following trans-Tasman announcement - Air New Zealand boss Greg Foran

Several thousand Australians have already booked getaways to tourism hot-spot Queenstown following Tuesday's announcement of a trans-Tasman bubble start date, Air New Zealand CE Greg Foran says. Foran spoke day after Prime Minister Jacinda Ardern announced quarantine-free travel between New Zealand and Australia will commence from April 19. He said the airline's booking website was inundated following the announcement, with Kiwis making bookings for Brisbane, Sydney, and Melbourne - all popular for New Zealand tourists. In return, several thousand Australians have already booked getaways to New Zealand tourism hot-spot Queenstown, Foran said.b "We've seen about 100-times increase in bookings and actually yesterday, from the period from 4pm through to about 10pm, it was actually a record - an Air New Zealand record for the number of bookings that were made across the Tasman. Queenstown had a really significant uptake - so to [Mayor] Jim Boult and all of his team down there, who I know have been doing it tough, you've got some people heading your way." About a year since the idea of a trans-Tasman bubble was first floated, Foran's thrilled it's only days from getting underway. "We're up and running again to not quite a third of our market but close to it, so planes are up and running. We've been working hard to get ourselves organised - we've brought back about 340 crew." Foran said the airline would aim to have its flights 80% full. <br/>