Australia breaks its travel bubble: 200 New Zealanders expected on first flight

The Sydney airport director says he expects 200 kiwis to arrive on the first flight to the country, as two Australian states open their borders this weekend.

New Zealanders will be able to fly to New South Wales and the Northern Territory without going into quarantine starting tomorrow under a one-way transtasman travel bubble recently announced by the Australian government.

But it’s a one-way arrangement: Kiwis returning to New Zealand will still have to do their 14-day period in managed isolation. Australian tourists cannot travel to New Zealand.

Sydney Airport Chief Executive Geoff Culbert told AFR’s National Infrastructure Summit today that he expects an influx of New Zealanders by the end of the week.

“We expect 200 passengers on the first flight from New Zealand.

“We haven’t welcomed international travelers to Sydney in months that haven’t had to go through customs and go directly to the hotel buses [quarantine],” he said.

Culbert acknowledged that while it was still a one-way deal, the airlift was the first step in a “gradual approach” to international travel during the pandemic, News.com.au reported.

This first phase, which takes off this weekend, would provide a vital “proof of concept” for future travel deals.

Announcing the reopening in early October, Australian Deputy Prime Minister Michael McCormack said South Australia would likely be the next destination offered for kiwis.

The measure would also free up an additional 325 spaces for Australians to return home.

“The opportunity is there and there are a lot of tour operators in Western Australia looking for business,” he said.

If Western Australia wants to take advantage of the travel bubble, they just have to say the word, he said.

“We want to open Australia to the world. This is part one,” McCormack said.

Australian Prime Minister Scott Morrison said recently that New Zealanders are “very, very welcome” to spend money in New South Wales and South Australia.

However, he said that he would not be able to announce that Australians could travel to New Zealand as that was New Zealand’s problem to solve.

But Ardern has said it was still too unsafe to open New Zealand’s borders to Australia.

“In our opinion, we are not prepared to have unquarantine trips with Australia. They have a very different strategy than ours, so they are making that decision … but for now of course we have to keep our except.

“I encourage New Zealanders to think about spending their dollars here locally.”