Singapore ,Hong Kong travel bubble scrapped

By TIN Media | Asean News Published 2 years ago on 21 August 2021
Read News

SINGAPORE:

The proposed air travel bubble between Singapore and Hong Kong has been scrapped, said the Ministry of Transport (MOT) on Thursday (Aug 19).

In a press release, the ministry said that Transport Minister S Iswaran and his Hong Kong counterpart Edward Yau have agreed not to pursue further discussions on the air travel bubble.

It added that both jurisdictions differ on their strategy to manage the Covid-19 pandemic.

“Against this backdrop, both parties agreed that it would not be possible to launch or sustain the air travel bubble in its present form.”

The highly anticipated air travel bubble, which would have allowed people to travel between the two cities without serving quarantine, had been postponed twice.

It was first postponed in November last year delayed due to a rise in the number of coronavirus cases in Hong Kong.

It was relaunched on May 17 this year but was postponed again when Singapore saw an increase in Covid-19 cases.

The two cities agreed to review their public health situation in early July before reaching a decision on a possible revived launch of the air travel bubble, MOT said in June.

Even though the air travel bubble has now been scrapped, MOT said that Hong Kong will consider adjusting its border measures to facilitate travellers from Singapore looking to go there, given that both cities are major aviation hubs with many people travelling between them for business.


The Civil Aviation Authority of Singapore announced on the same day that it will lift its border restrictions on travellers from Hong Kong from Aug 21.

Travellers from Hong Kong can apply for an Air Travel Pass to enter Singapore and they do not need to serve a stay-home notice when they are here.

However, they will have to undergo a polymerase chain reaction test when they arrive at the airport, and will be allowed to go about their activities once the test is negative.


    TAGS / KEYWORDS:

Email TIN

TIN Media

TIN.media - Travel Industry Network is Malaysia's home grown B2B Travel Industry Media with the most influential B2B online resources including news, research, events, and marketing services and more.