
Dust off your passport and get your suitcase ready, because Australian residents will be able to fly to New Zealand – without having to enter mandatory hotel quarantine – in less than two weeks.
Addressing media on Tuesday afternoon from Wellington, New Zealand Prime Minister Jacinda Ardern has given the trans-Tasman bubble the green light after more than a year of closed international borders with Australia.
Ms Ardern said the two-way quarantine-free travel corridor across the ditch will start at 11.59pm April 18, with major airlines – including Air NZ and Qantas – able to take bookings from April 19.
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“Managing COVID and keeping it out of New Zealand over the last year has been a massive team effort,” she said from the Beehive in Wellington.
“One sacrifice that has been particularly hard for many to bear over the past year has not been able to see friends and family who live in Australia.
“Cabinet was presented with advice today that conditions for opening up quarantine-free travel with Australia had been met.
“The Director-General of Health considers the risk of transmission of COVID-19 from Australia to New Zealand to now be low, and that quarantine-free travel would be safe to commence…
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