All three families of Corporal Luke Tamatea, 31, Lance Corporal Jacinda Baker, 26, and Private Richard Harris, 21, were taken onboard the RNZAF Hercules after it touched down at 2pm to be reunited with their loved ones.
Senior military brass paid their respects at the caskets, draped in New Zealand flags on the runway at Christchurch International Airport.
Army personnel decorated the soldiers' caskets, and their respective units performed a haka as the caskets were carried across the tarmac to the waiting hearse.
An all-female group of pallbearers, including close friend Leanne Corbett, carried Baker onto home soil.
The bodies were transferred to hearses and were then taken to the coroner.
Discussions are still being held over if and when a military commemorative service will be held. It's believed it will be held at Burnham Military Camp on Saturday.
Army spokesman Major John Gordon described the occasion to welcome the brave soldiers home as private and sombre. For the families it was the first time they had seen their loved ones in seven months.
The trio were killed instantly when a 20kg roadside improvised explosive device (IED) destroyed their Humvee in northeast Bamiyan Province on Sunday, August 19.
A ramp ceremony was held by their army comrades at Bagram Air Base before the bodies were flown home. Their Commanding Officer with the NZ Provincial Reconstruction Team, Lieutenant Colonel Pete Hall, said the slain troops epitomised the best of the NZ Defence Force's values.
Father of four daughters Tamatea, from Auckland, joined the army in 2000 - and was deployed to Timor-Leste, the Solomon Islands and Sumatra.
A family statement said: "Luke took his job in the Army extremely seriously and was very proud of his service. He was a natural leader and was able to use his skills and experience helping others."
Baker, an army medic from Christchurch, is the first female New Zealand soldier killed in action since nurse Lesley Estelle Cowper of the New Zealand Surgical Teams was killed in Vietnam in 1966.
A family statement said: "Jacinda was a girl full of spirit, always ready for her next adventure. She was fearless and would give anything a go."
Harris, from Pukekohe, joined the Army in 2009 and was previously deployed to Timor-Leste.
His family said they were proud of what he'd become and he was excited at the prospect of going to Afghanistan.
The deaths of the tree soldiers came just a fortnight after Lance Corporals Pralli Durrer and Rory Malone, both 26, were killed in a gunfight at the Battle of Baghak after going to help ambushed Afghani colleagues.
New Zealand's military toll in Afghanistan stands at 10.
The Taleban has claimed responsibility for the latest attacks.