5 May 2020

Airport traffic drops to record low as border restrictions continue

5:27 pm on 5 May 2020

The number of passengers leaving and arriving in New Zealand reached the lowest level on record yesterday.

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An empty Auckland Airport. Photo: Supplied / Oliver Ren

Seventeen people landed and 25 left the country.

Last Wednesday, no passengers arrived at all, although more than 200 boarded flights.

The Wednesday before that, was mistakenly reported to have been the first day in decades with zero arrivals. Customs figures later showed five people did arrive that day.

Travellers have numbered in the hundreds most days for the past few weeks, although up to 3000 have left the country on days when repatriation flights were operating.

More than 6000 people have arrived in the country since 1 April.

Half of them are still in managed isolation, mainly in Auckland hotels.