Auckland Airport prepares to welcome home Kiwis from Australia as borders open

Five flights will arrive from Australia to Auckland Airport on Monday. Photo / 123rf

Travel from Australia will start slow and steady, with five flights carrying 910 passengers scheduled to arrive at Auckland Airport on day one of the border reopening.

On Monday 28, four Air New Zealand flights and one Qantas service will arrive from Melbourne, Sydney and Perth. The first flight, QF143, will arrive from Sydney at 2.45 pm.

For the hundreds of passengers and those waiting to see them, it will no doubt be a day full of emotion and relief said Auckland Airport General Manager Operations Anna Cassels-Brown.

However, self-isolation requirements mean travel won't look like it did when New Zealand launched its travel bubble with Australia almost a year ago.

"It's an important first step, and one that is really welcomed by Auckland Airport and Kiwis wanting to reunite with their families between Australia and New Zealand," Cassels-Brown said.

"But with self-isolation in place, we're expecting a much more subdued response with only those New Zealanders who really need to travel making the journey across from Australia."

Auckland Airport expects to welcome around 6,700 international arrivals throughout next week. Compared to the 2,900 who arrived from Australia in December 2021, this is a marked increase but still 10 per cent of pre-Covid trans-Tasman travel numbers.

Passengers can expect a familiar welcome to Auckland Airport, said Cassels-Brown, as well as some new procedures at the border. Most notably, arrivals will receive a 'Welcome Home Pack' that contains rapid antigen tests for those entering self-isolation.

Since April 2021 Auckland Airport operated two arrival paths in its international terminal. Zone A was a safe travel zone for quarantine-free arrivals while the completely self-contained Zone B processed MIQ arrivals.

Zone B will remain in use until midnight March 13, when the staged border reopening moves to phase 2. From this point, eligible arrivals from the rest of the world to self-isolate.

Cassels-Brown said the team at Auckland Airport were proud of the work they had done over the last two years, welcoming over 200,000 Kiwis into MIQ.

"Although it's just a fraction of the 10 million international arrivals at Auckland Airport in the two years prior to the pandemic, for every one of those people it was an important, and no doubt emotional, touch-down," she said.

"I'd like to personally thank our courageous and resilient Auckland Airport staff and service providers, as well as our colleagues in the government border agencies, airlines and across the airport community for their hard work in getting international travellers where they need to be over the past two years."

Now, they were excited to begin the next stages of opening.

"It's an exciting time for the airport community, and we're really looking forward to welcoming back more people."

In January, 65 international passenger flights operated per week to and from Auckland Airport. This is 79 per cent down compared to January 2020's 1200 per week.