Flights to Melbourne and Sydney out of Auckland Airport have been cancelled this morning.

It comes as the Australian government suspends all quarantine-free travel for New Zealanders for 72 hours in the wake of the Northland community case.

Australia's Health Minister Greg Hunt says the decision was made out of caution to reduce a potential risk of the South African variant spreading.

Anyone who arrived in Australia from New Zealand since 14 January is asked to get a COVID-19 test and self-isolate until they return a negative result.

Hunt says they were advised to stop the "green zone" travel arrangement for a minimum of 72 hours.

The changes took effect immediately.

Air New Zealand is in the process of contacting passengers booked on flights to Australia over the next three days.

The airline says five flights will be impacted over that period and the airline is working to contact and re-accomodate those customers once they receive further advice from the Australian government.

The airline currently operates quarantine free travel flights between Auckland and Brisbane, Melbourne, Sydney and transiting flights through Norfolk Island.

-RNZ