Hon MICHAEL WOOD (Minister of Transport): Recently, I announced that the Government has awarded a new round of airline support contracts through to the end of October 2021 to help keep New Zealand connected internationally and positioned for recovery. International air travel essentially shut down as COVID-19 spread, so the threat of isolation from global partners was very real. Airfreight is now at 90 percent of pre-COVID levels thanks to the International Air Freight Capacity scheme and its successor, the Maintaining International Air Connectivity scheme, which have helped to keep trade channels open and maintain supply of time-critical goods like medicine and high-value fresh produce into and from New Zealand.