The ACT Chief Health Officer says the time is right for Canberra to welcome back international students.
ANU and University of Canberra will arrange a flight for up to 350 students already enrolled at the institutions to return to the ACT next month.
ACT Chief Heath Officer Dr Kerryn Coleman said it was the right time for the territory to trial the pilot program which was planned to touch down mid-July.
"We're very much at the time when it's right for the community, I think," she told ABC Radio Canberra on Thursday.
"It's right in terms of our easing of restrictions and it's right in terms of the universities being ready."
The students would gather at a hub airport, likely in the Asia-Pacific region, where they will be able to board a direct charter flight to Canberra at their own expense.
Dr Coleman said the returning students would be screened for symptoms before departure and would be required to undergo 14-day quarantine in a hotel, which lowered the risk of bringing COVID-19 into the community.
"There are protections put in place all the way through to quarantine within the airport," she said.
"They are monitored every day and there will be a test offered prior to leaving quarantine."
Dr Coleman said the ACT had successfully received two repatriation flights, from India and Nepal, with those precautions in place.
