15 September 2020

South Australia waives mandatory quarantine for Canberrans

| Dominic Giannini
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Canberra Airport

South Australia will open its border to ACT residents from midnight tonight (15 September). Photo: Dominic Giannini.

South Australia will ease travel restrictions for Canberrans from midnight tonight (15 September), waiving the mandatory 14-day quarantine period upon arrival, although restrictions on NSW residents will remain.

ACT residents wishing to enter the state cannot drive through NSW and must fly directly from Canberra.

Canberrans must also fill out an online pre-approval and declare that they have not been to NSW or Victoria in the 14 days before arrival.

SA Police Commissioner Grant Stevens said the SA-NSW border could open if NSW went 14-days with no COVID-19 community transmissions.

READ ALSO Gungahlin woman denied the chance to say goodbye to her dying mother

Chief Minister Andrew Barr said he had invited Premier Steven Marshall to pilot the domestic travel bubble, citing the ACT’s record of low COVID-19 infections.

“We will work with Canberra Airport and with the airlines to quickly establish Canberra-Adelaide flights,” Mr Barr said.

If the pilot is a success, a travel bubble could also be expanded to include Darwin, Brisbane and Hobart, Mr Barr added.

The news came a day after Singapore Airlines pulled the plug on its Canberra service due to the downturn caused by the pandemic and international travel restrictions.

The next direct flight to Adelaide leaves Canberra on Thursday evening.

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woohoo

but you watch the airlines price gouge the hell out of this

Myles Gillard4:05 pm 15 Sep 20

*airline. Only Qantas are left flying the direct route.

Myles/Gassed,
Virgin only stopped flying the route because of the restrictions and they have direct flights available from November if you want to book.

They’ll likely schedule more flights now and it’s almost certain this will bring the price of flights down rather than up due to the competition and economies of scale.

yep lowest i found $800 return is awesome deal 🙁

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