Emotional scenes as flights arrive after border reopens to Australians

Katherine Sweetman (in white) is reunited with her sister Jane Cheesman and her kids, Zac and Ruby after two years and three months. Photo / Dean Purcell

Emotional scenes filled Auckland Airport today as the border reopened with Australia and flights from across the Tasman arrived.

Jane Cheeseman and her two children Zac, 10, and Ruby, 8, were on the first flight, QF 157 from Melbourne, which landed at 12.58am.

After being apart for two years and three months, Cheeseman is excited about reuniting with her sister Katherine Sweetman and her family.

"Just so, so excited to be back, and all I really want to do is spend time with the family really," Cheeseman said.

About 3000 from Australia are expected to arrive in New Zealand today. Photo / 123RF

"Katherine's kids are now 16 and 14, it's a big difference being 12 and 14, so it's also just letting the kids spend time with each other."

Cheeseman said the flight was full but, other than a half-an-hour delay, everything went smoothly.

"There's extra paperwork and RAT test to do, but it's definitely worth it," she said.

"We're just glad to be back, and I've missed my sister."

Until the borders shut, they used to travel to New Zealand every three months.

New Zealand's international border reopened to Australians from midnight.

Vaccinated Australians and permanent residents can enter New Zealand with no other requirements other than to self-test for Covid-19 on arrival.

This is the first time Australians have been allowed to come without the need for isolation since the transtasman bubble last year.

Today, 18 flights from Australia are expected to arrive in Auckland, Wellington and Christchurch.

Brett Sweetman, general manager of Park Hyatt Hotel is looking forward to having international guests staying now that New Zealand's border has opened up. Photo / Dean Purcell

Returning New Zealanders are among the many of those arriving today.

Glenys Thompson was in tears when she hugged her granddaughter Abby Jamieson, 20, who she has not seen for more than two years.

Abby returned from Melbourne with her parents, mum Vicky and dad Aaron Jamieson, Thompson's son, who has been working in Australia for the last eight years.

"I can't believe this is actually happening," Abby said.

When asked what her plans were, Abby said she just wanted to spend time with family.

Travellers arriving on flights between 6am and 4pm were welcomed by performances by Haka the Legend cultural group.

Peeni Henare, Associate Minister of Tourism, and the Kiritapu Allan, Minister of Conservation, were also present to welcome those arriving.

An extra 96 transtasman flights from April through to June have been added by Air New Zealand, which is an increase of about 20,000 seats.

Scott Tasker, Auckland Airport's general manager aeronautical commercial, said about 3000 travellers from Australia will arrive today.

Air New Zealand said it has 11 near-full flights arriving from Melbourne, Sydney, Gold Coast, Brisbane and Perth.

The first from Perth touched down in Auckland at 6am.

"This is the first step in welcoming international visitors back to our shores and we couldn't be more excited for both New Zealand and Air New Zealand," the airline's chief customer and sales officer, Leanne Geraghty, said.

"We've seen high demand across the Tasman with Aussies keen to reconnect with friends and whānau both in New Zealand and Australia."

Brett Sweetman, general manager of Park Hyatt Hotel, said with borders reopening there was certainty of business returning.

"It's been such an unstable two years, it's really been just survival but now with the borders opening up we are seeing advance bookings, particularly in the second half of this year," he said.

"It's giving us some certainty so we can start recruiting, move forward and start welcoming guests again to New Zealand."