Hundreds of people will be returning home to New Zealand from Sydney today on special flights linked to rooms in managed isolation facilities.
Air New Zealand sold more than 500 tickets yesterday for the flights within 15 minutes. The airline said more seats would be released as spaces in MIQ become available.
Despite the Prime Minister's initial "flyer beware" warning about people going across the Tasman under quarantine-free travel, those travelling home won't have to pay for their stay in MIQ.
Jacinda Ardern yesterday defended using MIQ spots for Kiwis returning from Australia, saying they won’t be competing with New Zealanders in other parts of the world also trying to book rooms.
"Initially, there will be approximately 1,000 rooms made available across the next two weeks, but not all rooms will be available immediately.
“We are also working on a plan to make more rooms available for NSW returnees after the initial two week emergency allocation,” she said.
The flights follow a day in which New South Wales recorded another 112 community cases of Covid-19, marking the worst 24 hours of the region’s outbreak to date .
Ardern says there’s a “significant road to travel” before quarantine-free flights with New South Wales can resume.
Meanwhile, travellers from Queensland can now travel to New Zealand without having to quarantine after the reinstatement of the quarantine-free travel bubble with the Australian state.
Two-way quarantine-free travel reopened with Queensland at midnight.
Queensland hasn't recorded a new community case in six days, and the risk to the public is low, according to New Zealand’s Ministry of Health.
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