The airport is one of about 40 organisations involved in the Transtasman Safe Border Group, which last Thursday provided a series of recommendations to the New Zealand and Australian Governments on the creation of a safe air corridor between the two countries.
Mr Keel said Queenstown Airport Corporation had been actively involved in the group, at both the ‘‘senior sponsors’’ and working group levels.
Recommendations included the establishment of a ‘‘safe travel zone’’ and multiple layers of protection for passengers.
Mr Keel said the group had made ‘‘significant progress’’ in a short period of time to deliver a robust proposal to both governments.
While it had been a ‘‘very challenging’’ period for all sectors given the effect of Covid-19, the Queenstown Airport community remained ‘‘strong, committed and resilient’’.
Scheduled domestic air services returned to Queenstown last month after 43 days.
Queenstown was having ‘‘only a fraction of pre-Covid-19 passenger and aircraft movements’’, but the resumption of domestic air travel to the resort was a ‘‘welcome step forward to recovery’’, he said.
‘‘As an active member of the New Zealand Aviation Coalition, Queenstown Airport has worked closely with other airports, airlines and government departments to ensure consistent health and safety protocols and processes to facilitate domestic air travel across the country at Alert Level 2.
‘‘These protocols and processes are working well with positive customer feedback, which has been really pleasing to see.
‘‘The next critical steps are the reintroduction of transtasman scheduled air services and a move to Alert Level 1 for domestic services.
‘‘Queenstown Airport is ready and looking forward to the safe reopening of the transtasman border as soon as possible.
‘‘The Southern Lakes region is a popular destination for Australians and it would be wonderful to welcome Aussies, together with Kiwis, to the region for the winter season.’’
