Pleas for more travel bubbles after New Zealand opens

The much anticipated trans-Tasman bubble has jetted off to a smooth start, prompting ­ calls for more quarantine-free travel corridors to be established.

Love filled the air at Auckland Airport on Monday as families and friends greeted each other in the first quarantine-free flights in more than a year. Picture: Getty Images

The much anticipated trans-Tasman bubble has jetted off to a smooth start, prompting ­ calls for more quarantine-free travel corridors to be established.

Close to 10,000 people were carried between Australia and New Zealand on Monday, resulting in heartwarming scenes as families and friends reunited for the first time in more than a year.

The flurry of flights broke a near 400-day overseas holiday drought, and had pilots, airline and airport bosses lining up to ­demand more bubbles.

Qantas chief executive Alan Joyce led the calls, saying it was a “massive day” for the aviation and tourism industry, with 630 of his employees returning to work.

“We’re hopeful we can get more bubbles like this. Bubbles are great,” Mr Joyce told Sky News.

“Bubbles to Taiwan, to Korea, to Japan, to Singapore — that would be really good and would mean more benefits to our tourism industry.”

The International Air Transport Association shared Mr Joyce’s enthusiasm, calling the Australia-New Zealand bubble a “significant step towards restarting international air travel”.

The association’s regional vice-president for Asia Pacific, Conrad Clifford, congratulated both governments for making the bubble a reality. “After more than a year since the COVID-19 outbreak, this is the first time restriction-free travel is possible within the Asia-Pacific region,” he said.

“We hope more travel bubbles will be established across the ­region when it is safe to do so as part of overall efforts to restart international air travel.”

Deputy Prime Minister ­Michael McCormack said the success of the trans-Tasman bubble would encourage the government to launch others across the Pacific, saying it was imperative international travel returned to “some sort of normality”.

“We can, we will and we must open other bubbles,” Mr McCormack said. “But we will do it based on the best possible medical ­advice. So whether that’s Singapore next or one of the Pacific ­Island nations … we’re in those early preliminary discussions as the vaccine rollouts happen.”

The bubble marked the first international flights from Gold Coast Airport in more than a year, and the firs overseas flight operated by Qantas from the Gold Coast.

Last April the airport recorded just 1518 passengers for the entire month, as state and international border closures reduced flights to a mere trickle.

Airport manager Chris Mills said the inaugural Qantas Gold Coast-Auckland service made the milestone day particularly special.

“With 60,000 Kiwis living on the Gold Coast and the region ­rating highly on travel wishlists of New Zealand residents, we expect these services to be extremely popular in both directions,” he said.

Brisbane Airport Corporation chief executive Gert-Jan de Graaff said it was 387 days since the previous flights into the city from Wellington and Christchurch “which felt like almost as long as the last time the Wallabies won the Bledisloe Cup”.

He said the 40 flights a week operating between Brisbane and New Zealand were welcome but represented only a third of pre-COVID trans-Tasman capacity.

“While this bubble is important, it is not enough on its own,” Mr de Graaff said. “We have some way to go to safeguard the livelihoods of businesses in Brisbane and across Queensland who rely on tourism.”

He appealed for all levels of government and industry to work together to make real the possibility of opening to more international markets, and “get Australia’s vaccination rollout back on track”.

Pilots were also keen to see the vaccination rate increased, to give them hope of returning to work at pre-COVID capacity before the end of the year.

Australian and International Pilots Association president Murray Butt said there was still much uncertainty for members. “Hopefully as the rollout of the vaccine progresses, we will be able to expand into other markets,” Captain Butt said.

But the prospects for A380 ­pilots remained grim, with the Qantas superjumbo fleet not ­expected to be reactivated until 2024. “A pathway to return to work is still not evident,” Captain Butt said of his fellow A380 pilots.

“There is a real risk of the degradation of skills.”

Additional reporting: Adeshola Ore