While the overall situation in Australia may be gradually improving, trans-Tasman flights will not go ahead until March next year. At least according to Air New Zealand CEO, Greg Foran.
โI certainly do not believe we will see anything across the Tasman this calendar year,โ says Foran.
โIf it comes back quicker, weโre going to pop some champagneโฆ Weโre dealing with the biggest crisis thatโs ever hit [the] industry.โ
New Zealand was famously ahead of the curve by pre-emptively flattening it โ seemingly for good. That was until the countryโs situation was complicated by the sudden occurrences of new cases. Throw Victoriaโs headline-making resurgence into the mix and the reasoning behind the trans-Tasman travel bubble/possibility of trans-Tasman flightsโ delay becomes painfully apparent.
The proposal for quarantine-free air travel between Australia and New Zealand roughly lines up with Qantas CEO Alan Joyceโs announcement regarding international flights from the crimson carrier back in June.
โThereโll be nothing this next financial year,โ says Joyce, referring to after June 30th of 2021.
โJuly next year we may start seeing some international services and that will only get us to 50%. The following year, only two-thirds of the pre-COVID international schedule.โ
As per the estimation of many from the International Air Transport Association to Greg Foran himself, international travel will not return to โbusiness as usualโ in terms of operations nor recover to pre-COVID levels of demand until 2023.
Hang in there.
