[ad_1]
Ricky Wilson / Stuff
The French Air Force A400M parked at Auckland Airport on Wednesday afternoon.
A French military aircraft has made a rare appearance in New Zealand as part of a repatriation mission.
The French Air Force Airbus A400M landed at Auckland Airport on Wednesday morning.
It is understood to be in Auckland on a mission to repatriate about 20 French Polynesians stranded in New Zealand during the coronavirus lockdown.
The aircraft is set to depart on Wednesday afternoon bound for the capital of French Polynesia, Pape’ete, on the island of Tahiti.
READ MORE:
* Coronavirus: Au pair back in Auckland after 24 hours trapped in transit
* Coronavirus: Teen gets out of Rarotonga, only to be trapped in Auckland airport
* Further coronavirus restrictions and cases in Pacific
It was deployed to Tahiti from Paris late in April, carrying medical supplies and cash for banks, RNZ reported.
MARTIN DE RUYTER
Air New Zealand Q300 aircraft at Nelson Airport during the COVID-19 level 4 lockdown.
The deployment is part of Operation Resilience, launched by French President Emmanuel Macron to battle the spread of Covid-19.
Do you know more? Email [email protected]
Local French language news website Tahiti-infos reported a crew member of another French military aircraft sent to Tahiti had tested positive for Covid-19.
That crew member tested positive on arrival in Tahiti, after earlier returning negative results on a stopover in New Caledonia, it was reported.
Ricky Wilson / Stuff
Airbus had pitched the aircraft to replace New Zealand’s aging Hercules transport aircraft but the Lockheed Martin C-130J Super Hercules was chosen instead.
They were isolated then flown out again.
The Airbus A400M is a four-engine turboprop transport aircraft introduced in 2013.
It is set for a one-month stay in French Polynesia but its arrival has courted some controversy.
Tahiti-infos reported that on Monday, local shipowners who had lost 40 to 70 percent of turnover due to coronavirus raised concerns about unwelcome competition from the aircraft.
Christophe Deschamps, chief of staff for the High Commissioner, had assured them it would only carry food, medical supplies and other essential items.
At a meeting, Deschamps told a delegation of shipowners the aircraft was there to support “la solidarité nationale [national solidarity]. ”
French Polynesia is an overseas collectivity of France whose citizens vote in French elections, but it is not in a free association with France as the Cook Islands are with New Zealand.
Education and health are managed by the collectivity government but the military and the National Gendarmerie are under French control.
French Polynesia has 60 confirmed cases of coronavirus with 54 recovered and no deaths.
More than 25,000 people have died of coronavirus in France.
