It’s not only the roads that are reopening in the Hunter today, but the skies as well.
With the Victorian border opening to NSW, regular flights from Newcastle Airport will return to the southern capital from this afternoon.
Virgin Australia flight VA 1593 will touch down at 1:20pm – the flight is expected to be near capacity after family and friends having been separated since lockdown restrictions started in August.
The return flight to Melbourne will depart from Newcastle Airport at 2pm.
Regional NSW has reopened to Greater Sydney as well from today and vice versa.
It comes after being delayed twice due to lagging COVID-19 vaccination rates, particularly in regional NSW.
Mayors in regional NSW have been requesting a meeting with the Premier Dominic Perrottet to voice their concerns about Greater Sydney residents coming into regional NSW amid fears COVID numbers could spike.
Reports are the meeting was declined at first, but has now been accepted even though the borders have already opened.