A New Zealand-Australia Travel Bubble will Open in Early 2021
New Zealand Prime Minister Jacinda Ardern announced the commitment during a press conference
New Zealand will soon reopen its borders completely with Australia to open a travel bubble. It can happen as soon as early 2021 as things are moving forward quickly. The Cabinet of New Zealand has given its nod to a trans-Tasman travel bubble in principle.
New Zealand Prime Minister Jacinda Ardern announced the commitment to this travel bubble via a press conference in which she said the government has plans to announce a date “in the New Year, once remaining details are locked down.”
The new travel arrangement will depend on two factors as per Ardern. First is the Australian government’s nod to the agreement, and second is the need to control the coronavirus numbers in both nations.
The first stage of the trans-Tasman bubble was announced this October when New Zealanders were allowed to travel to several Australian states without the mandatory 14-day quarantine. Now, New Zealand might allow Aussies to do the same.
Before the travel bubble gets a nod, New Zealand will work on contingency plans that might be needed for repatriating Kiwis if there is another large-scale coronavirus outbreak in our country. The government officials are also working on how to handle passengers and airline staff that will travel between two nations.
New Zealand is sticking to its word regarding the travel bubble as the country’s COVID-19 response minister Chris Hipkins will visit Auckland airport and analyse how to conduct the “operational separation.”. He said, “No one wants to see our travellers coming from a safe zone country mixing with our travellers from somewhere else, so we’ll be making sure that’s all lined up.” He added, “The airlines themselves need a bit of time to prepare to make sure they have sufficient planes and crew to fly the routes we’re talking about, both with the trans-Tasman and the Cook Islands.”
The announcement of this travel bubble comes after New Zealand, and Cook Islands had a similar bubble and at a time when COVID-19 vaccine rollout has begun in several nations and is making people feel safer.
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