LATAM Airlines has resumed services to Auckland and Sydney following a 24-month interruption due to the COVID-19 pandemic. The Chilean carrier serves the route from Santiago's Arturo Merino Benítez international airport using Boeing 787-900 aircraft three times a week.
Australian police and military will soon begin flying doctors to several cruise ships stranded near Sydney to assess nearly 9,000 crew for COVID-19, officials said on Thursday.
Thousands of holidaymakers and locals were trapped on a beach in fire-ravaged southeast Australia on Tuesday, as blazes ringed a popular tourist area leaving no escape by land. As many as four thousand people are trapped on the foreshore of the encircled seaside town of Mallacoota, as smoke turned day to night and the authorities said nearby fires were causing extreme thunderstorms and ember attacks.
A petition to cancel Sydney's famous New Year's Eve fireworks and use the money to fight bush fires ringing the city has topped 260,000 signatures, but officials say the show will go on.
Australian authorities said on Friday that they are focused on protecting water plants, pumping stations, pipes and other infrastructure from intense bushfires surrounding Sydney, the country's largest city. Firefighters battling the blazes for weeks received a reprieve of slightly cooler, damper conditions over Christmas, but the respite is not expected to last long.
Firefighters in the Australian state of New South Wales were bracing for catastrophic fire conditions on Saturday as temperatures well above 40 degrees Celsius and strong winds were set to fuel more than 100 fires burning across the state.
Thousands of firefighters were fortifying containment lines on Monday as temperatures were forecast to soar, increasing the danger of a fresh wave of bushfires across Australia's east coast. More than 100 fires remain ablaze in the region, and authorities warned conditions would worsen on Tuesday, when temperatures were predicted to top 40 degrees Celsius.
Sydney was shrouded in dangerous haze on Tuesday as smoke from bushfire blazing along Australia's eastern board sent contamination levels soaring in the country's biggest city.
A cool change on Wednesday brought relief for firefighters battling massive bushfires in eastern Australia which destroyed 50 homes and saw flames come within meters of homes on the outskirts of Sydney.
Princess Cruises has announced its largest Australia and New Zealand cruise season ever offered sailing towards some of the world’s most dramatic destinations during the cruise line’s October 2020 to May 2021 season. New for this season, Regal Princess joins sister ship Majestic Princess in Australia, marking the cruise line’s youngest fleet to sail in this region.