Air New Zealand will operate its first quarantine-free flight from Auckland to Brisbane on 7 January. Passengers travelling on this flight will not be required to quarantine on arrival in Brisbane.

Before customers travel to Australia they are required to complete the Australia Travel Declaration form stating they have been in New Zealand the preceding 14 days.

Air New Zealand’s chief customer and sales officer Leanne Geraghty said flight NZ147 will depart Auckland at 7:40am with passengers on board not required to quarantine on arrival in Brisbane. “Flights from Auckland to Brisbane will operate similarly to the flights we have been operating to Sydney and Melbourne – with quarantine-free flights for people whose travel originates in New Zealand, and quarantine flights for people who do not meet the Safe Travel Zone criteria and are required to quarantine on arrival in Australia. Our teams have been working closely with authorities in Australia to ensure all agencies are satisfied processes are in place to confidently accept quarantine-free flights, and we thank customers for their patience while we’ve worked with various agencies in Australia to ensure we can keep everyone safe,” Geraghty said.

The airline currently operates five return flights per week between Auckland and Brisbane. Three of these services will be quarantine-free flights, while the remaining two will be quarantine flights. Quarantine flights are not able to be booked by people beginning their journey in New Zealand, Geraghty added.

Air New Zealand will directly contact customers if their booking is affected by these changes. Customers who booked via a travel agent (including online travel agents) will be contacted by their booking agent.

Passengers planning to travel interstate beyond Queensland will need to ensure they have checked state and territory travel restrictions and have the appropriate exemptions/approvals to travel as these continue to change. More information on the Safe Travel Zone can be found here.

This is a one-way arrangement and those returning to New Zealand will still need to quarantine for 14 days on return, provide payment for quarantine and register their managed isolation accommodation requirements via the New Zealand Government’s Managed Isolation and Quarantine website.