Three more aircraft arrived in New Zealand overnight from Germany to repatriate hundreds of its citizens who have been stuck in New Zealand since the COVID-19 outbreak.
A Lufthansa Boeing 747-400 and a Condor 767 landed in Christchurch early on Monday morning, arriving from Bangkok and Phuket respectively.
In Auckland, a Lufthansa Airbus A380 from Bangkok also touched down.
"A group will fly out on an Air New Zealand flight this morning bound for Frankfurt via Vancouver, before the first of a series of Lufthansa flights," Christchurch Airport said in a statement.
"We're sorry to see them leave in these circumstances, but know their families will be glad to see them return home."
Precise departure times are not yet confirmed, however one of the German aircraft is expected to leave Christchurch at around 8pm on Monday evening.
Germany began repatriation flights to Frankfurt from Auckland on March 26, just hours after New Zealand went into alert level four lockdown.
