Air New Zealand Issues Advice To Customers Around Trans-Tasman Travel

Air New Zealand has adjusted its trans-Tasman schedule as a result of the eight-week suspension to quarantine-free travel from Australia announced by the New Zealand Government today.

Seven-day quarantine-free travel pause

The airline will continue to operate quarantine-free services from all states except New South Wales until 11:59pm on Friday 30 July to allow people who normally reside in New Zealand to get home without needing to go into managed isolation.

Air New Zealand has added two additional flights from Melbourne to Auckland on Monday and Tuesday next week and will continue to add flights to its schedule as demand becomes clearer. Eligible travellers from Victoria or travellers from other states/territories who transit through Victoria after 11:59pm on 23 July must meet additional criteria to be able to return without going into MIQ.

Anyone travelling from Australia to New Zealand will require a negative pre-departure test 72 hours before departure. Customers are advised to visit the Air New Zealand Travel Alerts page which is being updated regularly.

Eight-week suspension to quarantine-free travel

Following the seven-day pause in quarantine-free travel, from 11.59pm on Friday 30 July all quarantine-free passenger flights from Australia to New Zealand will be suspended for the next eight weeks. A reduced number of passenger flights will continue to operate to Australia during this period to ensure customers currently visiting New Zealand from Australia can return home. A limited number of quarantine flights will operate from Australia to New Zealand during this time with bookings dependent on availability of MIQ accommodation.

Cargo services will continue to operate across the Tasman to keep goods moving between New Zealand and the Australian ports the airline operates to.

The airline is seeing a large volume of customers cancelling travel to Australia. Due to this reduced demand the airline will be rerouting customers booked to travel across the Tasman from Queenstown, Christchurch or Wellington via Auckland from 30 July for the duration of the suspension.

Advice for customers

• Go online – Air New Zealand’s customer care teams are fielding a large number of calls and social media messages. Customers are able to change or place their booking into credit online to avoid putting extra pressure on the airline’s customer service teams
• Customers booked to travel in the next seven days should continue to check the COVID-19 Government website to ensure they meet entry requirements. The page will be regularly updated as information becomes available
• Customers who booked directly with the airline and whose flight has been cancelled will automatically have their booking placed into credit. There is no need to take any action or call the contact centre
• Customers who booked through a travel agent or third party should contact their booking agent.

Air New Zealand’s Chief Executive Officer Greg Foran says the airline understands this is a really stressful time for customers and it is doing everything it can to get people home.

“We’ll be putting extra capacity onto the Tasman to help ensure Kiwis can return home from Australia over the next seven days. Our teams are working extremely hard to ensure we can meet demand for travel. Please bear with us as we gear up to do this.

“There may be some wait time to get through to us via our contact centre, so please do take advantage of our online self-service tool to review or change your booking. These are trying times, but rest assured we will do everything we can to get you home.”

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