AUSTRALIA & NEW ZEALAND. Celebratory and emotional scenes are being played out at airports on both sides of the Tasman Sea today as the travel bubble between Australia and New Zealand is launched.
Mainstream media titles in each country are devoting live coverage to the recommencement of quarantine-free travel between the two neighbours, underlining the significance of the occasion.
Airport and retail executives, too, have welcomed the moment. At Auckland Airport, ARI’s The Loop Duty Free reopened today after being closed since 19 March 2020, in line with a government-ordered shutdown of all non-essential stores to contain the spread of coronavirus.
ARI Auckland Head of Retail Operations Melanie Rutherford commented: “It is an indescribable feeling to have welcomed our team and customers safely back to the store today. Excitement has been building since the government announcement two weeks ago and all the hard work has paid off.
“Customers are really happy to be able to travel and treat themselves at duty free once again. They have enjoyed the buzz of the store this morning and of course some unexpected surprises as part of our Welcome Back campaign.”
ARI CEO Ray Hernan commented: “We have been waiting for this day for a long time. There has been a great sense of anticipation for a safe reopening of The Loop Duty Free at Auckland Airport. I am immensely proud of the team, they have worked non-stop around the clock to ensure that customers of The Loop are greeted with the warmest, safest welcome and are treated to a world class shopping experience.”
In further positive news, Lagardère Travel Retail Pacific Chief Executive Officer Przemyslaw Lesniak told The Moodie Davitt Report that the company has reopened stores at Christchurch and Queenstown airports and online click & collect at Auckland Airport.
Bouncing back in Australia
Heinemann Australia Managing Director Richard Goodman also welcomed the news. While Heinemann’s shops at Sydney Airport have been operating on a limited basis since October 2020, this is the first time in over a year that Heinemann’s Gold Coast Airport location has been open to customers.
“We are delighted to welcome the first travelers on the trans-Tasman bubble to our shops after a long year,” he said. “This is a significant first step towards the recovery of our industry and we hope this is the first of many travel bubbles to come. We are pleased to be collaborating with our brand partners on a number of campaigns in Sydney and Gold Coast Airports to celebrate the return of quarantine-free travel over some of the most important routes to our customers.”
Brisbane Airport in Australia also saw the commencement of two-way quarantine-free travel with New Zealand for the first time in 12 months. The Queensland gateway will have 16 ‘Green Lane’ services today, with Air New Zealand and Qantas facilitating a combined eight arrivals and eight departures connecting Brisbane Airport to Auckland, Wellington and Christchurch. Around 1,800 seats are scheduled to operate each way today, with services forecast to be around 80% full.
Brisbane Airport Corporation CEO Gert-Jan de Graaff said the travel bubble is vitally important as New Zealand is one of Queensland’s most important international markets. “Today is an incredible day for the many families and friends who will be able to reunite, but also for the thousands of businesses in Brisbane, the regions, and across Queensland who rely on tourism,” he said.
“Brisbane Airport will welcome flights from Christchurch and Wellington for the first time since 28 March 2020, some 387 days, which for us has felt almost as long as the last time the Wallabies won the Bledisloe Cup.”
De Graaff said that Brisbane Airport Corporation is expecting strong ‘Visiting friends and family’ travel to drive demand within the first few weeks of the travel bubble but noted that other sectors of the travel market will take longer to recover.
“The initial pent-up demand has resulted in 40 services operating between Brisbane and New Zealand this week, and we expect leisure flows to peak in the mid-year school holidays and again at Christmas and New Year,” he said.
“We have no doubt that Queenslanders will continue to welcome our Kiwi brothers and sisters with open arms as they did throughout the one-way bubble, but the reality is that we will still only have just over a third of pre-COVID capacity between Brisbane and New Zealand. High-yield travellers such as the corporate and conference sectors will not return in the same way just yet.”
De Graaff said that while this ‘bubble’ is important, it is not enough on its own. “We have some way to go to safeguard the livelihoods of businesses in Brisbane and across Queensland who rely on tourism. “To protect the bubble and to make real the possibility of opening to more international markets, we need to get Australia’s vaccination roll-out back on track and firing on all cylinders. We need all levels of government and the industry to work together to make this happen.”
In pre-COVID 2019, around 1.5 million passengers flew between Brisbane and New Zealand, with over 100 flights each week and five airlines operating services to five New Zealand cities (Auckland, Christchurch, Wellington, Dunedin, and Queenstown).
