Aviation border control
Air travel poses some unique problems for controlling the international spread of disease. When large numbers of people are able to move quickly around the world, disease can spread easily – beyond the travellers to those they come into contact with after the flight.
Aircraft arriving in New Zealand from overseas are subject to entry requirements. A number of these focus on the health of passengers and crew on the aircraft, with the aim of preventing the international spread of diseases or other public health risks.
Passengers on aircraft arriving in New Zealand need to fill out a Passenger Arrival Card (New Zealand Customs Service website). This contains information required by the various New Zealand government agencies. Copies of the card are provided on arriving aircraft.
There are also requirements on aircraft departing New Zealand, so that diseases and public health threats are not exported from New Zealand to another country.
In this section
- Flights coming into New Zealand are required to notify any conditions of concern on board the plane, such as infectious disease, that could pose public health risks. This section introduces the criteria for identifying such conditions and the notification process that follows for scheduled international flights. Read more
- Public health units must be notified of all unscheduled flights coming into New Zealand. These flights must be met by health officials if passengers and crew are to be allowed to disembark. Read more
- New Zealand legislation imposes a number of requirements and grants health authorities a range of powers relating to arriving international aircraft. These include provisions around quarantine, granting and withholding of pratique, requiring steps to be taken, and boarding, redirection or disinfection/fumigation of aircraft. Read more
- Agencies such as the International Civil Aviation Organisation and the International Air Transport Association provide guidelines for reducing the spread of infectious disease and other public health threats via air travel. Their members are expected to have plans in places to mitigate such emergencies. Read more
Related websites
Page last updated: 05 December 2011
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