Here come the Aussies: Qantas rebuilding transtasman services

Qantas will use its Airbus A330 on some transtasman flights. Photo / Supplied

Airlines have responded immediately to the long-awaited call to get rid of self-isolation for international visitors, starting with Australia next month.

Qantas and Jetstar are ramping up transtasman services to 30 return flights a week "initially'' as New Zealand opens up to vaccinated travellers from April 13.

Before Covid, Qantas and its subsidiary Jetstar operated more than 170 return services a week between New Zealand and Australia.

Qantas will fly daily from Auckland to Brisbane, Melbourne and Sydney, and Christchurch to Sydney with a mix of its Boeing 737s and its popular wide-body Airbus A330 aircraft.

Jetstar will operate three weekly flights from Auckland to the Gold Coast using its Airbus A320 aircraft.

Both airlines will further increase flights during May and June, and resume flights to Australia from Queenstown and Wellington.

The return to New Zealand is more restrained than when the short-lived transtasman bubble was announced last year. Then the Qantas group initially scheduled more than 100 flights a week.

To celebrate the reopening of borders Jetstar is launching a transtasman sale for New Zealanders with flights from $129 one way for travel from July from Auckland, Christchurch and Wellington to the Gold Coast, along with other sale fares to Melbourne and Sydney.

There will be more seats for frequent flyers, with every Qantas and Jetstar transtasman flight in May now a "Points Plane".

Qantas says it will continue to offer a Fly Flexible booking policy with unlimited flight date changes available on transtasman flights booked before June 30 for travel until December 31 although fare differences may apply.

Qantas Domestic and International chief executive Andrew David said travellers have waited a long time for news that they could travel freely across the Tasman again.

"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,'' he said.

Testing requirements - still in place for entry into New Zealand - can deter some people from travelling.

"As the world shifts to truly living with Covid, it's important that we normalise 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," David said.

Other countries, including Britain, were doing away with pre-flight and arrival testing.

Air New Zealand said today flights across the Tasman have been particularly popular, especially over the Easter period where it has added over 90 flights to keep up with demand over that period.

"Pre-Covid-19, Australia was the largest tourism market for both our airline and New Zealand. We know a lot of tourism operators have been missing international visitors so we're looking forward to playing our role in New Zealand's recovery,'' said Air NZ chief executive Greg Foran.

Australia was New Zealand's largest source of travellers prior to the pandemic, with 4.6 million passengers each year or 12,500 per day pre-pandemic through Auckland Airport. Currently, there are 1700 daily passengers across the Tasman and two airlines flying (Air New Zealand and Qantas) with LATAM flights available from the end of March, the airport says.