Repatriation flights planned from NZ and Australia [1]
Friday, September 11, 2020 - 17:32
Two repatriation flights are being planned for next month to return around 300 people from New Zealand and Australia, confirmed MEIDECC CEO Paula Ma’u today.
“At this stage, we plan one from Christchurch, New Zealand, about first week October, and first one from Brisbane, Australia last week of October.”
The flights are expected to return people who are stranded, front line workers, and students, among others.
Paula said passengers would include around 148 people from New Zealand, and possibly 150 from Australia.
Since the border closure on 23 March, a total of 278 people have been repatriated to Tonga on five repatriation flights from Fiji, New Zealand, Kiribati, Solomon Islands and Vanuatu.
Currently, there are 71 people in quarantine at the Tanoa Hotel. They were repatriated last week from Fiji, Kiribati, the Solomon Islands and Vanuatu.