The Northern Territory, Queensland and Tasmania are still asking passengers from ‘high risk’ areas to test negative via a PCR test 72 hours before departure, alongside many other international countries.
Host Adam Thorn talks to Bell Flight’s Terry Miyauchi, who headed up Arizona Police’s Aviation Unit.
Prime Minister Scott Morrison has called on Queensland and the other states to drop their testing requirements and free up testing resources for symptomatic people and close contacts of confirmed COVID cases.
While the federal government, and most state governments, have committed to keeping their borders open due to vaccine milestones already having been met, a new survey suggests consumers remain unconvinced.
Deputy Prime Minister Barnaby Joyce announced the new program, dubbed the Aviation Recovery Framework, on Monday, and said it noted the significant contribution of a strong regional aviation sector in supporting economic prosperity throughout the nation.
From Tuesday 21 December, all fully vaccinated international travellers and flight crew will be free to enter NSW and Victoria, however will need to undergo a COVID-19 PCR test within 24 hours of arrival, and isolate until a negative result is received.