Covid 19 coronavirus editorial: Transtasman bubble eve - NZ/Australia travel gets green light

Wheels up on an Boeing 787-9 Dreamliner leaving Auckland International Airport and bound for Sydney. Photo / Air New Zealand Communications, File

Editorial

EDITORIAL:

Many New Zealanders will have a growing sense of anticipation about the opportunity to leave their isolated place on the planet and wing their way to Australia under the new transtasman bubble agreement, due to start tomorrow.

The two-way quarantine-free travel allows airlines and airports to operate "quarantine-free" also known as "green" flights between New Zealand and approved safe travel zone destinations without quarantine on arrival.

Just as we have alert level settings for managing cases within New Zealand, the framework for managing New Zealanders in the event of an Australian outbreak involves three scenarios: continue, pause, suspend - designated by the colours green, orange and red.

Travellers have been warned the bubble is a "flyer beware" scenario. People need to plan for the possibility of travel disruptions should there be an outbreak.

To be eligible to travel on a quarantine-free flight, people must not have had a positive Covid-19 test result in the previous 14 days and must not be awaiting the results of a Covid-19 test.

Passengers will be carried on "green zone" flights. There will be no passengers on the flight who have come from anywhere but Australia or New Zealand in the past 14 days. They will also be flown by crew who have not flown on any high-risk routes for a set period of time.

Passengers need to provide comprehensive contact information during their time on the other side of The Ditch, must complete a pre-departure health declaration and won't be able to go on the flight if they have cold or flu symptoms.

Masks will be worn on board, and arrivals here will be asked to download and use the NZ Covid Tracer app while in New Zealand. Australia has a national-level Bluetooth app, Covid Safe, and every state has its own QR code scanning app. Contact tracing will be essential to ring-fence any positive case.

On landing, passengers will be taken through airport green zones - removed from those arriving from other parts of the world, who are still bound for managed isolation or quarantine. Random temperature checks will also be carried out.

All these rules will no doubt be worth it to the separated families and friends, reunited once again from this week.