[ad_1]
The Australian state of Victoria is opening its doors to New Zealanders after reporting its seventh consecutive day of zero locally transmitted Covid-19 cases on Friday.
On October 16, a one-way travel bubble opened between New Zealand and Australia, allowing unquarantine travel from New Zealand to some Australian states for the first time since the early days of the coronavirus pandemic.
But Victoria was not part of the deal, as she still had work to do to contain a Covid-19 outbreak, which has caused the majority of the 907 Covid-19-related deaths in Australia to date.
Victoria’s Prime Minister Daniel Andrews said on Friday that New Zealand travelers could fly directly to Melbourne from Monday and would not need to self-quarantine upon arrival.
READ MORE:
* Jetstar exceeds trans-Tasman sales, Air NZ is set to fully open the bubble in early 2021
* Mother vows never to fly with Qantas again after cancellation causes her to miss her daughter’s birthday
* Auckland Airport tests covid-destroying technology ahead of one-way bubble opening
Air New Zealand stopped carrying reservations to Melbourne for more than a month during the outbreak.
It currently operates seven weekly round-trip Auckland-Melbourne flights.
Supplied
Melbourne’s backstreets, famous for their colorful graffiti art, will have had no tourists for much of 2020.
Any New Zealander who has visited Australia since the bubble was launched will have to pay for their quarantine stay upon returning to New Zealand.
Following the news, a bubble was opening between neighboring countries, Qantas introduced six Sydney-Auckland flights per week and four Sydney-Christchurch flights and Jetstar launched three Sydney-Auckland flights per week.
However, Qantas is now operating only two flights from Auckland to Sydney per week and Jetstar appears to have completely stopped trans-Tasman flights.
SUPPLIED
Air New Zealand operates seven roundtrip flights between Auckland and Melbourne per week.
It was announced earlier in the week that Victoria would reopen its borders with New South Wales on November 23, following months of closure in its capital city of Melbourne.
The relaxation of regional border rules prompted Qantas and Virgin Australia to announce that they would increase the number of their flights later this month on the Sydney-Melbourne route, one of the busiest in the world before the pandemic.
Additional information from Reuters
