New Zealand Prime Minister Jacinda Ardern has foreshadowed the return to state-by-state bubble arrangements after ordering a snap three-day border closure to Australia on the weekend. And the good news is the snow is falling in preparation.
On Saturday night in New Zealand, a small number of ministers met and suspended quarantine-free travel with Australia, a move later attributed to fears around the case at a Northern Territory mine site.
Officials have since been manually checking arrivals to New Zealand against staff lists at the mine site to see whether fly-in fly-out workers have landed in Aotearoa.
On Monday afternoon (NZST), the Ministry of Health announced two of around 900 workers had travelled to New Zealand. Both are isolating. One has returned a negative test; the other’s result is expected on Tuesday.
Saturday’s suspension is the first whole-of-country shutdown and runs contrary to its public plan on managing the border.
While there is no prospect of re-opening to NSW as it contends with its major Bondi cluster, Ms Ardern said a reassessment would occur early this week.
“As we assess … you may see different guidance for different states,” she told TVNZ.
The border to NSW will stay closed until July 7 at the earliest.
Air New Zealand is continuing to adjust its trans-Tasman schedule due to the 72-hour pause to quarantine-free travel from Australia.
All passenger flights from Australia to New Zealand have been cancelled until 21:59 am on Tuesday 29 June.
A reduced number of passenger flights will continue to operate to Australia, ensuring customers currently visiting New Zealand from Australia can return home.
The airline is seeing a large volume of customers cancelling travel to Australia in the next few days. Due to this reduced demand, customers will be rerouting customers booked to travel from Queenstown, Christchurch or Wellington via Auckland for services across the Tasman.
Unfortunately, the cancellation of inbound services to New Zealand from Australia will result in the postponement of Air New Zealand’s inaugural Auckland-Cairns and Auckland-Sunshine Coast services due to relaunch from Monday 28 June and Tuesday 29 June respectively.
Chief Customer and Sales Officer Leanne Geraghty says the airline understands how challenging these disruptions are for customers.
“This is a fluid and uncertain time as Governments on both sides of the Tasman work to keep their communities safe. We feel for all of our customers, many of whom have already been waiting a long time to reunite with family and friends. We appreciate our customers’ understanding and patience as our teams work to ensure they are kept up to date.”
In some good news for trans-Tasman snow lovers, an Antarctic polar blast is currently disrupting Air New Zealand’s services across much of the South Island.
Dunedin, Invercargill and Queenstown are experiencing strong winds, low cloud and snow causing cancellations into and out of these regions. The challenging weather is expected to last through to tomorrow, and the airline is working through recovery flights for impacted customers.