New Zealand-Australia ‘travel bubble’ lays groundwork for airlines’ recovery

The launch of a quarantine-free “travel bubble” between Australia and New Zealand could provide a template for elsewhere in the world and pave the way for an airline industry recovery, according to the countries’ leading carriers. However, cash-strapped Air NZ and Qantas have warned that delays in Covid-19 vaccinations in both nations threatened to upend the resumption of international flights to parts of the world that are struggling to contain the spread of coronavirus. “Getting Australia back up and running for Air New Zealand is a significant boost to us,” said Greg Foran, Air NZ’s CE, ahead of the launch of the trans-Tasman travel bubble on Monday. Foran said that there was still a lot of work to be done by the governments of New Zealand and Australia to determine how to reopen air routes to the US and other countries where Covid-19 was still prevalent. So-called vaccination passports, which prove that a traveller has been inoculated, might provide a way to resume flights to these destinations by the end of the year, he added. Canberra has not provided a date for reopening its international border and suggested last week that travel bubbles with Singapore, Japan, South Korea and Vietnam could be its next step. Flights between New Zealand and Australia accounted for 5 and 20% of pre-pandemic revenues at Qantas and Air New Zealand, respectively, according to research firm Morningstar. Foran said demand for these flights was strong.<br/>