A mundane April morning was filled with joy as the long-anticipated travel bubble between New Zealand and Australia opened on April 19. The travel bubble has been in the pipeline for months, but was held back due to the outbreak of the virus in both countries.
The news came as a relief for families and tourist operators who plan to start quarantine-free travel now. The Australia-New Zealand travel bubble marks the first step towards both countries gradually re-opening their borders to the rest of the world.
To mark the occasion, Wellington International Airport put up huge Welcome Back hoardings near its main runway and Air New Zealand ordered around 24,000 bottles of sparkling wine - passengers were given a complimentary glass.
Chief Operating Officer of Air New Zealand Carrie Hurihanganui stated that the carrier had formerly been running just two or three flights a day between Australia and New Zealand. That escalated to 30 flights on Monday carrying 5,200 passengers. She added that the day marked a turning point and people were excited. "You can feel it at the airport and see it on people's faces," she said.
Australia had previously allowed citizens of New Zealand to arrive without going through a quarantine period but New Zealand did not let its guard down and asked travellers from Australia to complete quarantine protocols.