New Zealand Travel Bubble Announcement

[henrus]

Rumours circulating in NZ media that the announcement on Tuesday will be a positive one, with the bubble set to potentially open at the end of next week. Nothing confirmed, but it does seem a little more serious than previous attempts

Whilst it's certain an announcement will be made on Tuesday I don't think it'll open that soon.

Air NZ has been seriously working towards 19 April for a while now and don't really have the capacity/ability to ramp up before that date (aircraft/crew), for those interested here is their current plan:

https://p-airnz.com/cms/assets/NZ-Agents/Wing-Tips/2021/WTPS-5090-26-Mar-21.pdf

A big part of this Air NZ plan is stopping red zone (quarantine) flights that they currently operate, letting parts of the long haul crew spend a full 14 days in NZ which then allows them to operate bubble trans tasman flights using long haul 787 aircraft. Qantas and Jetstar are also lucky in that they both have some spare capacity to use but Virgin on the other hand might take a while (and they've indicated this).

I personally don't see the risk of traveling from AU to NZ as that great, you're far more likely to be locked out of NZ than you are locked out of AU. So once over there you should be able to get back to AU or at least NSW as they seem to always keep their border open.

 

[burmans]

Exactly who on earth would risk it. NZ are even more trigger happy than WA. And their contact track and trace systems are very poor, unable to deal with even 1 case without a full city lockdown.

Ha, you’ve been saying it won’t happen. Now you are saying no one will go, I strongly suspect you’ll be proven wrong on both counts.

While I by no mean think we will suddenly be back to normal I know plenty of people hanging out for this type of announcement who will jump on it.

 

[henrus]

Ha, you’ve been saying it won’t happen. Now you are saying no one will go, I strongly suspect you’ll be proven wrong on both counts.

While I by no mean think we will suddenly be back to normal I know plenty of people hanging out for this type of announcement who will jump on it.

Air NZ is working towards about 65-70% capacity pre-covid for the first few months but I wouldn't be surprised if it's more. Only time will tell but I 100% agree that it's going to be much more popular than some (including most of the media) are making it out to be.

 

[oz_mark]

Ha, you’ve been saying it won’t happen. Now you are saying no one will go, I strongly suspect you’ll be proven wrong on both counts.

While I by no mean think we will suddenly be back to normal I know plenty of people hanging out for this type of announcement who will jump on it.

Indeed, I know a few people that will be on to it quick smart, and most accept there is some risk in it.

 

[henrus]

Indeed, I know a few people that will be on to it quick smart, and most accept there is some risk in it.

I'll stick my hand up and say I'll be jumping on it very quickly. There's even a fair amount of Trans Tasman award space right now which I'll happily snap up on behalf of others

I see it no riskier than traveling to/from WA right now. If you get stuck then it's just something you've got to deal with.

 

[Must...Fly!]

Exactly who on earth would risk it. NZ are even more trigger happy than WA. And their contact track and trace systems are very poor, unable to deal with even 1 case without a full city lockdown.

I'll stick my hand up and say I'll be jumping on it very quickly. There's even a fair amount of Trans Tasman award space right now which I'll happily snap up on behalf of others

I see it no riskier than traveling to/from WA right now. If you get stuck then it's just something you've got to deal with.

I agree with both of you. For those who can work from home there is little risk involved. Family is a big draw, at least that is true for me for WA.

For people who cannot work from home and are perhaps in casual work then these bubbles are pretty useless, while the trigger happy politicians exist...

 

[jakeseven7]

Ha, you’ve been saying it won’t happen. Now you are saying no one will go, I strongly suspect you’ll be proven wrong on both counts.

Happy to be wrong, ecstatic even - I’m 100% sure some people are going to get caught in a mess not of their making though.

 

[jakeseven7]

I agree with both of you. For those who can work from home there is little risk involved. Family is a big draw, at least that is true for me for WA.

For people who cannot work from home and are perhaps in casual work then these bubbles are pretty useless, whole the trigger happy politicians exist...

Agree, I think there will be some demand but won’t be overwhelming.

Certainly tourists with no family connections wouldn’t risk it. Imagine being stuck in NZ with the AU border closed because of a handful of cases.... what are you going to do then? Vice versa with NZ tourists in Aus.

All the state governments, Fed gov and NZ will have to be very very transparent about what is going to trigger a border slamming party so people know the risk. 1 case? 10? 20?

 

[burmans]

Agree, I think there will be some demand but won’t be overwhelming.

Certainly tourists with no family connections wouldn’t risk it. Imagine being stuck in NZ with the AU border closed because of a handful of cases.... what are you going to do then? Vice versa with NZ tourists in Aus.

All the state governments, Fed gov and NZ will have to be very very transparent about what is going to trigger a border slamming party so people know the risk. 1 case? 10? 20?

No realistic difference between being stuck in an another state with no family and in NZ and the border situation is fairly similar.

 

[jakeseven7]

No realistic difference between being stuck in an another state with no family and in NZ and the border situation is fairly similar.

There’s plenty of creative ways to work around the state borders... welcome to my life for the last 12 months.... NZ, much less so.

 

[Pushka]

There’s plenty of creative ways to work around the state borders... welcome to my life for the last 12 months.... NZ, much less so.

How do you manage declarations and avoid quarantine then?

 

[jakeseven7]

How do you manage declarations and avoid quarantine then?

Couldn’t possibly imagine

 

[glasszon]

I am definitely booking a flight once the bubble is established, but given how well the SIN-HKG bubble has went, I won't be booking a flight until the bubble is open as the start date can be easily deferred if there is an outbreak on either side of the Tasman.

 

[Lynda2475]

New Zealand to open travel bubble with Cook Islands — but that doesn't mean we're in it too

New Zealand is opening up a travel bubble with the Cook Islands in two weeks. But it is not a straightforward trip for Australians.

www.abc.net.au

 

[henrus]

New Zealand to open travel bubble with Cook Islands — but that doesn't mean we're in it too

New Zealand is opening up a travel bubble with the Cook Islands in two weeks. But it is not a straightforward trip for Australians.

www.abc.net.au

Something tells me that Australia will get added to that bubble rather quickly.

The NZ prime minister has said that it's up to the Cook Islands to allow those who've been in Australia in the last 14 days in. Give it a week or two and I suspect Australia will be added to that list leaving the Australian government with no choice but to add the Cook Islands to the safe travel list.

Let's face it they've had no confirmed cases throughout the pandemic and we've even recently had someone travel RAR-AKL-PER. For the Cook Islands, it's a big boost (huge market) and Jetstar who used to fly to Raro has even said they won't be returning until Australia is added to the bubble.

 

[milehighclub]

NSW closed to NZ for 48 hours

 

[Lynda2475]

NSW closed to NZ for 48 hours

My boss is going to be very unhappy was supposed to fly tomorrow night to see his Mum who is in palliative care

 

[Beano]

Which means my Sunday flight will be packed.

 

[Lynda2475]

Which means my Sunday flight will be packed.

If its limited to 48 hours, I suspect lots of people will be trying to rebook for Sunday/Monday instead

 

[trevella]

Which means my Sunday flight will be packed.

*would* be packed…