Air NZ helping fly home 15,000 stranded Germans and Europeans

Thursday, 26 March 2020

Backpackers Julian Klein-Peters, left, Amandine Norin, Mia Zeh and Hannah Noeske-Heisinger with their vehicles in the Montgomery Carpark in Nelson.

Air New Zealand charter flights will help fly home up to15,000 Germans and Europeans stranded by the coronavirus lockdown.

Air crew have been asked to volunteer for the flights which will begin on Saturday following the signing of a contract between Air New Zealand and the German Embassy in Wellington earlier this week.

A post on the embassy's Facebook page said more than 12,000 Germans currently in New Zealand had registered for the repatriation program, and the charter flights carried out by both Air New Zealand and German carrier Lufthansa would also take a limited number of Europeans stranded here.

The first Lufthansa flight to Frankfurt is scheduled to leave Auckland on Saturday, followed by another flight on the same day operated by Air New Zealand.

**READ MORE:

The first of a series of repatriation flights done by Air New Zealand and German airline Lufthansa will leave on Saturday.

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German Pill Herman (19) has sold his car and is staying at an Auckland backpacker hostel until he can leave on a repatriation flight organised by the German Government. He said many of the other guests as his hostel were also trying to get home.

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In mid March 12,671 Germans were in New Zealand on temporary visitor visas and those remaining are relying on repatriation flights organised by their government to return home.

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Further flights to Frankfurt are scheduled from Auckland and Christchurch, providing welcome work for Air New Zealand which has made drastic cuts to international and domestic services as a result of Covid-19 travel restrictions.

Passengers taking up the repatriation offer were told they would have to reimburse the German Government for the cost of an economy class ticket, but did not have to pay in advance.

The German Embassy said it was working closely with the Delegation of the European Union in Wellington to ensure an orderly and smooth departure of an estimated 12,000 to 15,000 German and European nationals.

German backpacker Pill Hermann is among those keen to return home.

Earlier this week he drove for 10 hours through the night from Greytown to Auckland to sell his car, cutting short his New Zealand holiday by four months to rejoin his family near Hamburg.

'They were starting to worry a lot.'

The idea of staying in one place for weeks without being able to socialise with other backpackers was not very appealing.

'That's why I came here, and with that not being possible, it's not really fun to stay on the other side of the world without family.

'I'm not scared of the virus itself, but I'm scared of being responsible for other people's health, I don't want to spread it,' Hermann said.

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