Coronavirus: Plans for new flights a lifeline for tourists stranded in NZ
Wednesday, 25 March 2020
Special flights will be set up to take thousands of Britons stranded in New Zealand and Australia by the coronavirus lockdown back to the UK.
The German government is also laying on flights to repatriate citizens, the first leaving from Auckland on Friday and more from there and Christchurch over the weekend.
The UK's Foreign Secretary Dominic Raab said some flights that have closed will be reopened and people will be able to get home via Singapore after its government agreed it could be used as a transit hub.
Travellers struggling to pay for plane tickets will also be able to get an emergency loan, Raab said, while the UK's Foreign Office has asked airlines to be flexible on changing return tickets.
**READ MORE:
* Coronavirus: Thousands of stranded travellers left in limbo as airlines shut down
* Coronavirus: Potentially more than 100,000 tourists still here
* Coronavirus: Foreign Minister Winston Peters urges Kiwis overseas to shelter in place
* Coronavirus: Time running out for Kiwi travellers coming home as transit hubs locked down
* Coronavirus: Tourists in New Zealand urged to 'get home as soon as you can'
* Help us within 48 hours or there will be 'carnage' warn tourism leaders
* Coronavirus: NZ will be 'flexible, compassionate' to temporary visa holders**
The British High Commission in Wellington messaged tourists directly on Wednesday to say the Foreign Office is working with governments to help travellers get home and keep borders open long enough for people to get home.
'We are working with airlines to ensure as many people as possible can get commercial flights home,' it said.
The move will be a welcome relief to the thousands of British tourists stuck in New Zealand and other countries desperate to get home before borders are closed.
More than 100,000 tourists are thought to still be in New Zealand as it moves towards a level four lockdown later on Wednesday, shutting the country to everything but essential services.
Some 21,339 Britons were in New Zealand on temporary visitor permits as of March 12, according to Immigration New Zealand, along with 12,671 Germans.
British tourists in New Zealand have been furious at what they have felt is a lack of action by the embassy in Wellington, many begging for the UK government to set up emergency repatriation flights.
Others have spent thousands of dollars trying to get alternative flights, only for them to be cancelled.
ABTA, the UK's leading trade travel association, is trying to gather numbers of stranded tourists to petition the government to set up flights to take people back.
The British government's reliance on commercial flights is markedly different from that by Germany, which has chartered planes and made 50 million euro available to bring citizens back from around the world, RNZ reported.
Responding to an urgent question in the UK's House of Commons on Wednesday (Tuesday UK time) and accusations the government has not done enough to help the 'dire' situation', Raab said consular staff had been working 'around the clock' to bring people home.
'In New Zealand, the High Commission is working with airlines, airports and the New Zealand government to keep flight routes open and reopen some that have closed,' he said.
'In Australia, the High Commission is doing the same. They have also opened a register of British nationals hoping to return to the UK and are supporting British nationals via phone calls, and walk-in appointments at the Commission, as well as updating social media pages…
'The Department for Transport is working closely with airlines to ensure travellers can rebook or find alternative routes home.'
While exact details remain unclear, the news was welcomed by Paul Masters and Jill Masters, from Bristol in England, who were due to fly back to the UK on Saturday after a four week holiday to New Zealand but were stranded in Christchurch after Emirates pulled its flights.
The couple had been unable to contact their airline or the embassy but have since been contacted by the consulate.
'It feels as though something is finally happening, so we are hopeful,' Paul Masters said.
'We haven't been able to get through to anybody so at least we have had a response from the consulate that something is happening.
'But there are a lot of people in desperate need, paying thousands of dollars for flights that just don't happen.
'For Emirates to shut up shop it's just disgusting – they are supposed to be one of the world's best airlines.'
High Commissioner to New Zealand Laura Clarke contacted stranded Britons overnight to tell them about the Government's plans to keep routes open and reopen others that have closed.
'Australia have extended their transit window for another 48 hours – until 1200 AEDT (1400 NZ time) 26 March,' she said in an email.
'I hope this will allow some of you to begin your journeys home. We think that Qatar currently has some availability, and Qantas have just announced a new routing for their Sydney-London flight, going via Darwin to avoid the Singapore transit – so that's another avenue worth pursuing.'
Sympathising with their frustrations, she urged them not to go to airports unless they have confirmed travel plans, and advised people to contact their insurers if worried about meeting flight costs.
But many travellers are still angry and have begged the UK government to lay on flights to take people home.
Writing on the High Commission's Facebook page, Andrew Powell said: 'The government need to step up here. Contact people and arrange us to have planes home.
'We can't find places to live over here, never mind afford to risk losing money on flights that don't go.'
Keith and Sylvia Hall, stranded in Auckland on a 'holiday of a lifetime' to celebrate their 50th wedding anniversary, had flights back via Singapore changed twice before being told by their tour operator they would have to fund new flights themselves via Hong Kong – costing $4000 – only to be told 24 hours later they could not travel through there.
The couple, who have underlying health conditions, said they and their 30-strong group had been 'abandoned' by their holiday company and forced to pay their own accommodation and find flights home, and struggled to contact the British embassy, desperately hoping the UK government will charter a plane to bring people home.
'The consulate in Auckland no longer takes phone calls so we called the Foreign Office emergency helpline but after an hour and a half they cut us off automatically, this has been repeated three times.
'We had similar problems with our travel insurance provider, whose emergency assistance line appears to cut customers off after just 30 minutes on hold – that's a process we have repeated on half a dozen occasions and we still haven't spoken to anyone.'