A travel bubble has been on the cards since mid-2020 but community outbreaks of COVID-19 meant it failed to eventuate. Australia has been open to travellers from New Zealand since October but until Monday it had not been possible to fly in the other direction without going into 14 days of hotel quarantine – a burden too great for all but the most desperate of travellers.
“This is very special,” said Janet Callaghan as she held her three-month old grandson Finn in her arms at the arrival gate. “We’ve had a bit of FaceTime but I’ve been looking forward to this. I feel very lucky to be here.”
Ten flights were set to land in Melbourne on Monday from New Zealand and nine were scheduled in the other direction – about 2000 seats all up. The first “bubble” flight departed Melbourne for Auckland at 8am,and the first arrival from Wellington touched down just before 9am.
Qantas and Air New Zealand have jumped at the chance to reboot their mothballed international operations,scheduling hundreds of flights each week across the Tasman in what they hope will be the first of several “bubbles” that gradually reopen Australia’s border.
Qantas and its budget arm Jetstar were making 29 flights to New Zealand on Monday and have scheduled hundreds of flights equal to 80 per cent of its pre-COVID capacity across the Tasman.
“Quarantine-free travel has been almost 400 days in the making,” Qantas chief executive Alan Joyce said.
“Reopening these flights across the Tasman is a very important milestone in the recovery from the pandemic for Australia and New Zealand but also aviation and tourism.”
The bubble has meant Qantas and Jetstar could bring another 630 stood-down employees back to work.
Abigail McKinstry and fiance Jack Drummond prepare to depart Melbourne to fly back to New Zealand to get married after a long wait for flights to resume.Credit:Justin McManus
Abigail McKinstry and Jack Drummond were among the first to take advantage of the travel bubble. They were waiting at Melbourne Airport on Monday for their 10.35am flight to Christchurch.
They are getting married in Dunedin on April 24. Abigail is from New Zealand and hasn’t seen her family for almost a year and a half. Jack was raised in Melbourne.
For religious reasons,they were not living together under Melbourne’s lockdowns.
“We’re Christians,so we don’t live together until we’re married,which is why it’s been a huge deal for us,because we’ve had to wait,” Ms McKinstry said.
They did,however,see each other under the intimate partner bubble provision.
The couple got engaged in November and set a wedding date soon after,hoping for the best,then took their chances on some plane tickets.
“We bought the tickets to fly over for today,the 19th of April,a few weeks before the bubble start date was announced,” Mr Drummond said. “And then they announced the bubble was starting on the 19th April,so we were extraordinarily happy.”
They expect about 90 to 100 people at their wedding,20 of whom will be travelling from Australia over the next few days,including three groomsmen due to fly over on Tuesday and two bridesmaids. The wedding will also be streamed for Australians and other overseas friends who can’t make the event.
So how did they manage to plan it?
“We kind of haven’t. We’ve done a few things but it’s all been in just the last month it’s come together. It’s been very intense,” Ms McKinstry said. Her loved ones in New Zealand have managed a lot of the arrangements.
Jack Drummond and Abigail McKinstry were on one of the first flights out of Melbourne to New Zealand on Monday morning.Credit:Justin McManus
Geoff Howland,his partner Juliet Messent and their children Emilia and Fletcher were flying out to Christchurch to see their family for the first time in more than a year.
Geoff Howland and partner Juliet Messent with kids Emilia and Fletcher were flying home to New Zealand so their loved ones could meet 10-month-old Fletcher for the first time.Credit:Justin McManus
“He wasn’t around then,” Mr Howland said pointing to 10-month-old Fletcher. “So I’m looking forward to handing him over to the grandparents and taking a bit of a break.
“It’s been tough - when you can’t go,it makes you miss it a little bit more.”
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