Air New Zealand, the flag carrier, has reportedly put a further hold on travel bookings for flights to Australia. This announcement happened in line with the extension of the cap on the arrivals of international flights by the government.

As per the current scenario, the government has extended its cap on 25 passengers per flight that will arrive at Brisbane and around 40 passengers per flight in Sydney. This cap on international arrivals has been reportedly extended till 24th October. Currently, Melbourne has closed all international passenger flights.

According to the recent announcement, the flag carrier in New Zealand is placing a hold on future flight bookings to Melbourne and has extended towards the end of October. However, the airline has some bookings available for a few flights from Sydney from the beginning of September. Despite the ongoing hold on new bookings for passenger flights to Brisbane, the airline is expecting to reopen flight services as people are making changes to their bookings.

Cam Wallace, Chief Commercial & Customer Officer of Air New Zealand, has stated that the halt in flight bookings will pose high concerns among people will wish to return to Australia. In order to significantly eliminate this issue, its teams are working on considerably minimizing the disruption and serving its rising customers. He also has informed the customers about the availability of flights to Sydney in early September.

Mr. Wallace further added that the airline is planning to make new flights available, despite a halt in travels to Brisbane, as customers are making changes to their flight bookings.

New Zealand, which had been a COVID-free zone for more than 3 months, has recently reported 14 new cases, bringing the total number of active cases in the region to 36. The officials in the country are aiming to trace the source of the outbreak.

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https://www.rnz.co.nz/news/business/423446/air-new-zealand-halts-flight-bookings-to-melbourne-brisbane