For the first time in over a year, Australian residents can leave the country – and return – via scheduled flights.

“We've been waiting so long for this bubble,” says Te Tai, who got a seat on the first plane to take off from Sydney.

On Monday it opened Australia has a travel bubble with New Zealand in both directions, and residents have taken notice. Long queues formed at the airports in Sydney and Melbourne, where fizzy drinks were also offered.

The very first flight was scheduled to take off from Sydney at 6:15 a.m. local time, but the early hour did not deter the 176 passengers on the fully booked plane.

"I really wanted to be on the first flight out. This morning is all about seeing my son and his family again," New Zealander Te Tai told The Sydney Morning Herald.

However, she had to wait a little longer than planned. Some of the premiere passengers had forgotten to fill out all the customs forms and the premiere trip to Auckland on the other side of the Tasman Sea was slightly delayed. When the plane landed in Auckland, the travelers were greeted by music and cheers – and relatives.

On Monday, another 30 planes were to take off from Sydney and Melbourne alone towards the neighboring country, which, despite its relative proximity, has remained far away during the pandemic.

Since the end of March last year, citizens have needed special permission to leave the country at all and then return. Now they do not have to apply for a permit and also the previously mandatory two-week quarantine. However, the governments of both countries have warned that the bubble could close instantly if new Covid outbreaks occur and emphasized that people travel at their own risk.

New Zealanders could already in October last year to a limited extent go to Australia for a visit, but then with quarantine upon return and the country did not let in its cousins from across the water, or even its own citizens who were resident in Australia. And on Monday, most of the passengers were New Zealanders.

– Now it's time to drink a thousand beers, play some golf, hang out with each other, eat good food and let everyone say hello to our new puppy, says Sam Crampton to the NZ Herald.

– Now we can celebrate all the birthdays and all the wonderful moments that we haven't had, says Sam, who hasn't seen his family in Sydney for 15 months.

His Prime Minister Jacinda Ardern was equally enthusiastic on Monday.

"It's really great to be able to open this quarantine-free zone with Australia and to reunite families, friends and holidaymakers. New Zealand welcomes you and hopes you have a great time," she said on Monday morning.

Ardern isn't just welcoming visitors. According to the NZ Herald, the bubble could bring the country the equivalent of six billion kronor in revenue for the tourism sector alone this year.

Both countries have opened up to expand the travel bubble to other countries, including Singapore. But for Australia at least, that may take some time. With a total of just over 29,000 infected and 910 deaths, the country has fared relatively well during the pandemic and few restrictions limiting daily life remain.

But Australia is also far behind in vaccination and would be vulnerable to new major outbreaks of new variants of the virus.

– Australia is in no hurry to open its borders, I assure you, Prime Minister Scott Morrison said this weekend.

– I will not risk destroying the way we live our lives, which is so different from how we see the rest of the world doing it.

Source: TT