We are very excited by this afternoon’s announcement that the Trans Tasman bubble is about to open - quarantine-free - from Monday 19th April 2021. Kiwi’s we are ready to take you out for dinner!

Australia’s border has been mostly open to New Zealander’s since October, with a few short suspensions when there were small coronavirus outbreaks in Auckland.

But until today’s announcement, New Zealand had delayed returning the favour amid more frequent bursts of COVID-19 clusters across Australia.

“This is an exciting day. The trans-Tasman bubble represents the start of a new chapter in our COVID response and recovery one that people have worked so hard for, and this makes New Zealand and Australia relatively unique,” said New Zealand Prime Minister Jacinda Ardern.

“I know families, friends and significant parts of our economy will welcome it, as I know I certainly do.”

Ardern said specific flights into Australia could still be suspended if there were local outbreaks and conceded both countries retained the right to close borders at short notice.

But until today’s announcement, New Zealand had delayed returning the favour amid more frequent bursts of COVID-19 clusters across Australia.

“This is an exciting day. The trans-Tasman bubble represents the start of a new chapter in our COVID response and recovery one that people have worked so hard for, and this makes New Zealand and Australia relatively unique,” said Ardern.

“I know families, friends and significant parts of our economy will welcome it, as I know I certainly do.”

Ardern said specific flights into Australia could still be suspended if there were local outbreaks and conceded both countries retained the right to close borders at short notice.

“For instance, if a case is found that is quite clearly linked to a border worker in a quarantine facility and is well contained, you’d likely see travel continue in the same way as you would see life continued if that happened here in New Zealand,” she said.

“If, however, the case was found that was not clearly linked to the border and the state responded by a short lockdown to identify more information, we’d likely pause flights from that state in the same way we would stop travel into and out of a region in New Zealand.”

“And if we saw multiple cases of unknown origin we would likely suspend flights for a set period of time.”

Australians flying into New Zealand will be booked on a “green zone flight”, which means there will be no passengers on that flight who have come from anywhere but Australia in the last 14 days, the NZ Prime Minister explained.

“They will also be flown by crew who have not flown on any high-risk routes for a set period of time. Passengers will need to provide comprehensive information on how they can be contacted while in New Zealand [and] they won’t be able to travel if they have cold or flu symptoms,” she said.

Passengers will need to wear a mask while flying, must download the NZ COVID Tracer app for use in New Zealand and will be kept separate in New Zealand airports from passengers from other countries who are headed into hotel quarantine.

“We will also be undertaking random temperature checks of those arriving as an extra precaution,” she said.

Ms Ardern said her government urged New Zealand travellers to beware that there would be no financial support for Kiwi nationals who may become stranded in Australia if a border was to close.

“Of course while both Australia and New Zealand work very, very hard to prevent any outbreaks on either side, we are asking travellers to just simply prepare in case there is an outbreak that may cause a pause or a suspension in travel,” she said.

Air New Zealand already has an increased schedule in its booking system from Monday, April 19. It has 23 return services between Auckland and Sydney that week, as opposed to just four return flights this current week.

Re-post from Sydney Morning Herald - By Rachael Dexter