Newsstand - Plan will turn New Zealand flights into domestic bliss




BiziBB
Mar 23, 09, 10:52 pm
A great shot in the arm for trans-tasman travel;

Plan will turn New Zealand flights into domestic bliss (http://www.smh.com.au/travel/travel-news/plan-will-turn-new-zealand-flights-into-domestic-bliss-20090318-91gi.html)[SMH]
A common border will dispense with trans-Tasman customs and immigration, writes Clive Dorman.

The airlines are promising a travel revolution between Australia and New Zealand, beginning in less than a year if politicians make good their promise to turn air routes between the two countries into domestic routes that don't need customs and immigration processing...

The airlines say the move will cut operating costs on the Tasman - and therefore fares - by at least 30 per cent and will lead to an explosion in the number of new routes being flown, with destinations such as Avalon, Newcastle, Maroochydore and Hamilton Island on the Australian side and Hamilton, Palmerston North and Queenstown on the NZ side set to benefit most.

...it has been put back on the agenda by the low-cost airlines, which say the high cost of international travel - extra airport charges and government taxes that don't apply to domestic travel - are limiting trans-Tasman travel.


Hvr
Mar 23, 09, 11:01 pm
So will these trips leave from domestic terminals?

If so will we (Australian citizens) still need a passport to travel to NZ?

Also there would need to be congruency between AUS/NZ immigration laws. i.e. if you're a foreign citizen eligible to enter one country you would need to be eligible to enter the other.

That brings up the issue of either AUS or NZ citizens who aren't eligible to enter the other country. How would they be stopped from travelling between countries?

alanR
Mar 24, 09, 2:30 am
So will these trips leave from domestic terminals?

If so will we (Australian citizens) still need a passport to travel to NZ?

Also there would need to be congruency between AUS/NZ immigration laws. i.e. if you're a foreign citizen eligible to enter one country you would need to be eligible to enter the other.

That brings up the issue of either AUS or NZ citizens who aren't eligible to enter the other country. How would they be stopped from travelling between countries?
Sounds more like the UK / Ireland Common Travel Area rather than the European Schengen.

If so then a non-Oz/NZ citizen will still need visas for both if they need them and Oz/NZ citizens would only need a "government issued photo id" to travel between Oz & NZ.


BiziBB
Mar 24, 09, 3:08 am
Sounds more like the UK / Ireland Common Travel Area rather than the European Schengen.

If so then a non-Oz/NZ citizen will still need visas for both if they need them and Oz/NZ citizens would only need a "government issued photo id" to travel between Oz & NZ.

Yes, the UK/IE common border was what I expected, too.
It makes travel into Dublin (via LHR for Christmas last year) much better... just waved through. :D



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