Trans-Tasman bubble: Mysterious first flight from Australia arrives 41 minutes after bubble opens
The first quarantine-free flight from Australia has landed in New Zealand, less than an hour after the trans-Tasman bubble officially opened.
The Qantas flight took off from Sydney late Sunday night, and was initially due to land early Monday morning – six minutes after the bubble opened. It touched down in Auckland 41 minutes after the new rules kicked in.
From April 19, Kiwis and Australians are able to travel between the two countries without having to quarantine.
Stuff understands the Qantas flight was repositioning to Auckland and the only passengers on board were crew.
The flight was not listed on Auckland Airport’s arrivals board, but a Qantas A330 was initially listed on Flight Radar 24 as arriving at 12.05am. The border opened six minutes earlier.
Qantas refused to answer any questions about the flight, including who was onboard.
A Qantas 737 (different from the expected A330) was seen leaving Sydney Airport for New Zealand late on Sunday evening. Flight Radar 24, which plotted the flight heading towards the North Island, had no destination listed.
Aircraft can potentially arrive more than 30 minutes early if they have a strong tailwind across the Tasman, but if that happened, the pilots could intentionally slow the plane to ensure they arrive after the border opening. However, if they had a medical emergency on the plane or a mechanical issue, it would need to land as soon as possible.
That could be one of the reasons no passenger flights are scheduled to land overnight, just after the border opens.
Instead, the first quarantine-free passenger flight arriving from Australia is a Jetstar service from Sydney. JQ201 is due to land at 11.20am, where an official welcome is planned at Auckland Airport.
Library Closure
I wonder what goes on in the heads of the TDC personal when they spend $5 million on the new Motueka Library and are now talking about closing it on weekends when staff are sick and possibly 1 week day With winter just round the corner days getting colder the library is a meeting place the only place where one can go on a cold day to read borrow books or attend on of the many gatherings that are alway on in the library
Perhaps they should have not built the library as the old building sits empty and given themselves a big bonus for running the TDC as a vibrant council
When will these people pull there head out of the sand and run the council as a successful business as a not as a group of infants
We as those who like to live in this area its time to wake up and get rid of this riffraff and elect people who know how to run local bodies successfully
Celebrating Our Resident Authors On World Book Day
It was World Book Day on the 23rd of April, so what better time to celebrate some of our talented residents who have published books.
They range from children’s books, to poems, from non-fiction to a first novel - and all are proof that there is no age limit when it comes to creativity!
Click read more for the full story.
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