Melbourne Gets First International Passenger Flight For Four Months

The international arrivals board listed just one flight: NZ123, direct from Auckland to Melbourne. For an airport used to handling 100,000 passengers a day, it didn’t look like much.

Normally, that screen would be filled at all hours of the day, refreshing regularly with new airline codes of planes jetting in from different parts of the world.

But this Air New Zealand flight held a special significance. It was the first international plane to land at Melbourne Airport since the start of July, ending a four-month period that has isolated the city and kept families apart during the COVID-19 pandemic.

Judy Thame was among those standing patiently in the arrivals area so she could see her granddaughter for the first time.

She was one of the last waiting for the doors to open, watching on as other passengers had their joyful reunion first.

When the moment finally came, she burst into tears: “I should’ve brought a tissue,” she said, as she greeted the baby, Pia, and her mother, Perri.

Perri said officials had asked her about Victoria’s masks policy and whether she had been to any COVID-19 hotspots in Auckland. She also started crying when it dawned on her that she had made it.

“I wasn’t actually pregnant the last time I was home and now I’ve got a seven-week-old,” she said.

Around 80 people walked off the plane without having to go into quarantine under the travel bubble arrangement between New Zealand and Australia.

The airport itself was like the bus depot of a regional town: shops were boarded up and wires exposed as part of a redevelopment. The SkyBus stands were empty, as were the carparks – even the usually busy free spots at McDonald’s where idling cars wait for planes to land.

The taxi rank was busy, although the world could end and cabbies would still drive to Tullamarine hoping for an airport run.

Anita Lole got off the plane and was immediately swamped by her sisters, Melia and Tima, who she hadn’t seen in nine months. “Overwhelming,” she responded when asked how she felt.

Reinet Theron said she had a “wonderful holiday” but ended up staying a lot longer than she expected. The 83-year-old even wondered if she would ever come back.

Her daughter, Jeanne, had to remind her exactly how long it had been — it’s just been that kind of year.

“I was going for two months, I was there for seven,” she said. “Nine, you were there for nine,” responded Jeanne, laughing.

Vikram Kapoor was holding a helium balloon tied to a string while he waited to be reunited with his wife, Priya, and two-year-old daughter Amayra.

“So excited, very lucky,” he said when they came out. “It’s a great family reunion after eight months.”

Lei Key was another who stayed longer in New Zealand than she thought, with a one-month trip for a wedding turning into five months that included a funeral and a baby being born.

“I had a good time there, but I had husband and other kids waiting here for me,” she said.

Ashley had taken the longest route home among those who spoke to The Age, with her journey beginning in Scotland before heading through New Zealand.

“It’s the most amazing feeling ever, I’m back home with my family,” she said.

(Source: The Age)