Christchurch Airport has been safe and ready for such a bubble since last October, with our processes in place and approved by government agencies.

Chief Aeronautical and Commercial officer Justin Watson says we’re keen to welcome both travellers and partner airlines across the Tasman, with others waiting to come here from further afield.

“Safety is a top priority for us and we’ve made changes to allow for separate processing of ‘red’ and ‘green’ flights based on schedule separation and cleaning. We also began construction months ago to physically split the international arrivals area into two distinct pathways to allow simultaneous operations, because we anticipate that separation of passengers will be required for some time.”

The airport’s frontline staff have been vaccinated and are looking forward to safely welcoming trans-Tasman travellers again.

Justin says international airlines Qantas, Air New Zealand, Cathay Pacific, China Airlines, Emirates and Singapore Airlines have continued crossing the Tasman into Christchurch during the pandemic, to take high-value South Island produce to international markets, but he says like us, the South Island tourism industry is eager to welcome Australians back.

“We used to see almost 1.4 million passengers a year on the Tasman and welcomed up to 32 of those aircraft movements a day. Our place in the world has always been hugely attractive to Australians, and will become even more so when new facilities such as Te Pae and the cruise facility are completed.”