Government looks to limit the flow of passengers back into the country as quarantine facilities fill up

The Government's asked Air New Zealand to temporarily halt inbound bookings into the country as quarantine facilities get filled to overflowing.

A statement issued by the Government gave no indication of how long the halt on bookings would last for, only that it would be "short term".

The Government says it's also talking to other airlines about managing the flow of people into the country.

There's currently 28 quarantine/isolation facilities up and running, with plans to add capacity for another 750 people in coming weeks.

The numbers of those arriving into the country in recent weeks has continued to increase, with 5,697 people currently in managed isolation and quarantine.

Over 26,400 people have been through managed isolation and quarantine since 26 March.

Housing Minister Megan Woods said on Tuesday that bookings for seats on Air New Zealand flights into New Zealand "will be managed in the short term to ensure the Government is able to safely place New Zealanders arriving home into a managed isolation or quarantine facility".

Woods said she and Air Commodore Darryn Webb, who is in charge of the quarantine facilities,  met last week with Air New Zealand’s chief executive Greg Foran to "discuss safe and robust ways to jointly manage the big growth in New Zealanders coming home". 

“Air New Zealand has agreed to put a temporary hold on new bookings in the short term, as well as looking at aligning daily arrivals with the capacity available at managed isolation facilities," she said. 

Woods said people who have already booked flights with Air New Zealand will still be able to enter New Zealand "subject to availability of quarantine space".

“We have seen similar moves in Australia, where passenger numbers into Sydney have been limited following the suspension of flights into Melbourne because of the surge in Covid cases in Victoria. They too are having to manage the flow of people into the country to match availability of managed isolation beds." 

Woods said the country was seeing "rapid growth" in the numbers of New Zealanders coming home as the Covid-19 pandemic worsens. 

“Our number one priority is stopping the virus at the border, so everyone must to go into quarantine or managed isolation. The Government is also talking to other airlines about managing flows.

“The last thing we need are hastily set up facilities to meet demand, so we must have a manageable number of fit-for-purpose, safe facilities that do the job of stopping Covid at the border." 

Air Commodore Webb said there were 28 managed isolation facilities, and they were "scaling up more spaces all the time".

"...But we need to do so safely and new facilities need to be watertight before they are opened." 

"Standing up new capacity at the required levels for people to stay in for 14 days of isolation is a hugely complex undertaking; it needs appropriate levels of health and other services near by, New Zealand Defence Force personnel and extra security to ensure that people are looked after properly and the risk of COVID getting out into the community is minimised.

 “These temporary measures will ease the current demand on facilities while additional supply is brought on line. 

"In the past three weeks we have brought on capacity of 10 new facilities for 2,000 more people, and have a plan to bring on another 750 places in the coming weeks.

“The pause on new bookings will be short-term, and allows us to increase supply to match forecasted demand over the coming weeks. 

“We are closely monitoring the situation and working with Air New Zealand to smooth demand and ensure returnees can be safely housed in managed isolation facilities,” Webb said.