By Veronika Bondarenko Air New Zealand finally launched a flight that has been put off for nearly two years. During those bad early days of the pandemic, restrictions and stay-at-home orders made it difficult to drive a few hours to the next town over. Flying for 16 hours might as well have been a trip to the moon. With airlines suspending flights and most countries closing borders to non-citizens, air travel effectively ground to a halt throughout 2020. According to United Nation’s air transportation agency, air traffic in April fell by 92% from 2019 levels and 60% in all of 2020. Over 400,00…