Traveller numbers increase between Australia and New Zealand
The number of people travelling between Australia and New Zealand has gone up significantly since a quarantine-free bubble opened in April
Data from Stats NZ shows there were 85,900 border crossings in April 2021, made up of 47,000 arrivals and 38,900 departures. These numbers are up from the monthly average of 26,300 that crossed the border in the months preceding the travel bubble. Trans-Tasman travel made up about 80 per cent of all international travel in April.
"Despite this increase, arrivals and departures are significantly lower than levels before Covid-19, when border crossings were as high as 1.2 million in April," Population Indicators Manager Tehseen Islam told the NZ Herald. "Provisional data for May 2021 show further increases in border crossings."
Passenger traffic at airport increases
Meanwhile, New Zealand’s airport Auckland Airport reported passenger traffic across May to be up 747 per cent compared to May 2020. Auckland Airport saw 721,360 passengers move through its terminal, a small improvement on the April figure of 714,324 and an even bigger increase on the May 2020 figure of 85,157 passenger movements.
The May results provide the first full month of figures after the corridor opened. Auckland Airport handled 134,982 international passengers in May, compared to 66,229 international passengers in April.