Repatriation flight from Brisbane to Tonga deferred [1]
Tuesday, June 29, 2021 - 18:12. Updated on Tuesday, June 29, 2021 - 18:14.
The repatriation flight to Tonga from Brisbane, scheduled on 30 June, has been deferred due to the current COVID-19 outbreak in Sydney and parts of Queensland.
However, the repatriation flight from New Zealand is still scheduled to arrive tomorrow, Wednesday, with about 240 passengers.
MEIDECC CEO Paula Ma'u said, "The majority of these passengers are seasonal workers."
They will be quarantined at the Tanoa Hotel or Makeke Camp.
As for the Tongan passengers from the USA who are still stranded in Fiji, Paula said the government was still assisting them. Some of these passengers had managed to fly to New Zealand and they were expected to arrive in Tonga on the repatriation flight tomorrow.
Meanwhile, Ministry of Internal Affairs CEO, Dr Fotu Fisi'iahi said a flight without passengers was expected to arrive tomorrow from Australia, to pick up 60 seasonal workers.
There are now 2,800 people on the government's repatriation registration list. Some 2,700 people have been repatriated to Tonga since July 2020.