You may have heard about our new “red” international arrivals pathway, but you probably won’t have seen it.

The only people who use it are eligible passengers from specified flights, who have permission to land here on their way to 14 days in a managed isolation and quarantine (MiQ) facility.

We are the only South Island airport, and one of only two in New Zealand, with such a pathway for arriving passengers. These passengers use this dedicated pathway that does not use any of the public areas of the terminal and they only interact with border and health agencies as part of the process which takes them to dedicated bus transport straight to their MiQ hotel.

This special pathway took six months to build, in partnership with government agencies and health officials overseeing plans as they were drafted.  The pathway ensures arriving international ‘red’ passengers will not mix with any other passengers or share facilities, enabling us to manage all groups of passengers safely now and into the future.

We have also put one of our Pepper robots into the red pathway to welcome the arriving passengers and explain the process they’re going through. Having Pepper there to reassure and inform the passengers also means fewer airport staff are required in the pathway – another way to keep our people safe.

To give you a peek at this pathway, one of our staff took a walk through it and showing what to expect through the process - on his own to keep everyone safe.