Tourism Minister Kelvin Davis says the Government will trust airlines to keep passengers safely distanced on planes when domestic travel resumes when New Zealand moves to Alert Level 2.
Yesterday, the Government outlined what life would look like at Alert Level 2 . Under Level 2 bubbles will effectively come to an end with more interaction with others allowed. Domestic travel will be allowed, businesses and schools will open. Gatherings of people will have to be kept to under 100 people.
"Playing it safe means two metres from strangers or workplace or people you know," Prime Minister Jacinda Ardern said.
A decision on alert levels will be made by the Government on Monday May 11.
This morning on TVNZ1's Breakfast, Mr David reiterated the Prime Minister's warnings to Kiwis to maintain distance.
"We need to play it safe around gatherings and physical distancing," he said. "We're moving not back to normal, but back to a safer normal."
However, he added when it comes to plane travel it will be up to individual airlines how full planes will be.
"If we look at airlines they actually already do the things that we want - they've got good contact tracing measures.
"Decisions as to how full a plane will be will be up to them because whatever we do it has to be done safely, that's the main thing."
However, when questioned by Breakfast host John Campbell who asked if planes could potentially be flying full under Level 2, Mr Davis said, "it's making sure they follow the guidelines, everything we do we do safely so there has to be the physical distancing".
But Campbell said on especially smaller planes, such as those which travel into smaller centres like Gisborne or Nelson, you can't have physical distancing on a full plane.
"It's going to be up to the airlines, you know, they have to make decisions based on what's good for their business," Mr David reiterated.
"The Government isn't saying you must do this, you must do that, we're saying that what you must do is maintain the guidelines, you must make sure that there is physical distancing and that we are playing it safe."
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