For the first time in almost 400 days international tourists landed at Queenstown Airport, to tears, cheers, offers of free bungy jumps and relief that not only were friends and family reunited but that the Australian tourists were back.
Qantas flight 121 touched down shortly before 2:30pm to cheers from airport ground crew, with about 100 passengers onboard.
It's the financial lifeline the tourist town has long wanted and marks what many hope will be the start of the town's recovery after it was decimated by the tourist border closures.
Belinda McCammon was there.
