Experts say teething problems were expected as quarantine-free flights between Australia and New Zealand take off.

The fact that three breaches of the trans-Tasman travel bubble occurred in just four days should not raise alarm bells, experts say, but they should serve as a learning curve for those tasked with protecting the borders from Covid-19.
On Tuesday, health authorities announced that a man had travelled from Perth to Auckland, and then on to Northland, while the Western Australian city was in lockdown after a Covid-19 outbreak in the community. Immigration NZ manager Peter Elms said the man knew he should not have made the trip.
Then, on Thursday, two people who had been to the high-risk country of Papua New Guinea one of whom later tested positive for Covid-19crossed paths at Brisbane Airport with passengers who left the country on quarantine-free flights to Christchurch and Auckland.
One of the first quarantine-free trans-Tasman flights comes into land in Sydney.
Questions have also been raised about how a person who had travelled from Rarotonga to Auckland on Thursday under the one-way travel bubble arrangement was able to board a plane to Perth on Friday morning without completing the mandatory 14-day stay in managed isolation in New Zealand.
READ MORE:* Covid-19: Air NZ reports bubble breach as Rarotonga traveller connects direct to Perth* Covid-19: Red zone traveller who breached Brisbane Airport green zone tests positive* Covid-19: How did the Brisbane Airport breach happen? Could that happen at New Zealand airports?
Aviation and border management academics said it had been expected that teething problems would crop up early in the travel bubble between Australia and New Zealand.
Passengers exit Brisbane International Airport, where a breach of the trans-Tasman bubble occurred on Thursday. (File photo)
University of Canterbury mathematical modeller professor Michael Plank said it was clear that airports on both sides of the Tasman needed to tighten up their procedures for managing the movements of passengers before departure and during transit.
The Brisbane Airport incident appeared to have been caused by “mistake, in his view.
People bound for New Zealand should have been waiting in a different area of the terminal to arrivals from high-risk countries.
The two groups were meant to remain physically separated at the airport. But because of human error the pair from Papua New Guinea were able to access a cafe in the green zone reserved for trans-Tasman departures.
Massey University associate professor of aviation Kan Tsu said because the virus could spread quickly, the Australian and New Zealand governments, airlines and airports needed to work together to ensure travellers had up-to-date information about changes to border controls.
This is a very challenging period. Sometimes theres no such thing as a 100 per cent guarantee. This is the first time the management goes through this kind of learning process.
Smart technology could also play a bigger role in keeping the borders safe, he said.
For example, overseas airports were asking travellers to download special apps on their devices, which used Bluetooth to track peoples movements and triggered an alarm when they were about to cross into a zone” where they shouldnt be.
Passengers fill out Covid-19 self-isolation paperwork in the arrivals area at Brisbane International Airport. (File photo)
Dr Germana Nicklin, a senior lecturer and deputy director of Massey’s Centre for Defence and Security Studies, said the travel bubble was made up of a complex system with many moving parts.
Im not surprised that there are some glitches. As the system beds in, public confidence will grow.
Although there was still limited information about what went wrong at Brisbane Airport, it was possible that the staff involved needed further training.
Nicklin said to prevent further breaches, airline staff at check-in counters and gates must ask passengers detailed questions about their movements and record their responses.
The processes at the moment arent as fast as they might be. Its a big learning process.
Brisbane Airport is undertaking an investigation into how two passengers crossed from the red to green zone.
Jim Parashos, general manager of aviation at the airport, said human error caused the breach, but he did not go into more detail.
This is not about finger-pointing. It was an innocent mistake.