LONDON – Qantas and Jetstar are gearing up to add more flights to and from New Zealand to reunite friends and families who had to be apart for over 2 years.
This route has been opened amid confirmation from New Zealand that they will allow quarantine-free travel for Australian travelers next month, which is just in time for the Easter holidays.
From April 13, Qantas and Jetstar will operate up to 30 weekly flights to New Zealand on 5 routes, up from the 2 return flights that are currently being operated. Prior to COVID, both airlines operated up to 170 flights between Australia and New Zealand.
Qantas will fly daily from Brisbane, Melbourne, and Sydney to Auckland using their A330 aircraft while Jetstar will fly thrice a week from the Gold Coast to Auckland using their A320.
Both airlines will further increase their flights between May and June and resume flights from Australia to Queenstown and Wellington.
Jetstar New Zealand has already begun flying a while ago and is currently serving 5 destinations, on a more than 60 weekly flights basis, offering a wide amount of variety for connecting passengers.
Trans-Tasman flights will also offer seamless connections with Qantas’ Australian domestic market and its extensive intercontinental market.
Qantas Domestic and International CEO Andrew David said Australians have waited a long time for news that they could travel freely across the Tasman again.
“Qantas and Jetstar are gearing up to help Australia reconnect with New Zealand after more than two years apart, and one short travel bubble,” Mr. David said.
“New Zealand was Australia’s second-biggest source of international visitors before the pandemic, and Australians were the biggest source of visitors to New Zealand, so this is an important milestone as part of the recovery for both countries.”
“With restriction-free travel possible from next month for Australians, we look forward to rebuilding our trans-Tasman flights.
“We know that testing requirements can deter some people from traveling.”
“As the world shifts to truly living with COVID, it’s important that we normalize travel between Australia and New Zealand by removing layers of testing given the virus is endemic in both countries and both have some of the highest vaccination rates in the world.
“As a thank you to our frequent flyers for their ongoing loyalty throughout the pandemic, we’ve made every flight across the Tasman for the month of May a Points Plane, which means every seat can be booked using points.”
With how strict restrictions have been in those two countries, this is a major step forward in getting that area of the world re-opened again.
