SINGAPORE, Nov 11 — The air travel bubble arrangement between Singapore and Hong Kong, which allows all forms of travel, will start on Nov 22, the Civil Aviation Authority of Singapore (CAAS) announced today.
There will be one flight a day into each city with a maximum of 200 travellers per flight, with this increasing to two flights a day into each city from Dec 7, said CAAS.
Under the arrangement, travellers between Singapore and Hong Kong will be subject to polymerase chain reaction Covid-19 tests in lieu of a quarantine or stay-home notice period.
Travellers must take the test within 72 hours before their scheduled departure and receive a negative result. Those headed to Hong Kong will also need to take a Covid-19 test upon arrival. Travellers must also only travel via designated flights run by Singapore Airlines and Cathay Pacific.
Any person who has remained in Singapore and/or Hong Kong in the last 14 consecutive days prior to departure is eligible to travel under this arrangement except for holders of Work Permits or S-Passes issued by the Singapore’s Ministry of Manpower working in the construction, marine shipyard, or process sectors.
Upon arrival, travellers must also adhere to each city’s public health guidelines, said CAAS.
For those entering Singapore, they must download and use the TraceTogether mobile application and adhere to the gathering limit of five people.
The CAAS in its statement said that this was a “milestone arrangement” between two aviation hubs that seeks to revive air travel in “a safe and progressive way.”
“The good progress in containing the spread of Covid-19 in Singapore and Hong Kong has given us the confidence to reopen our borders gradually, with safeguards in place to ensure our public health and safety,” CAAS said, adding that negotiations on the arrangements had concluded earlier this week following an announcement by two cities on October 15 that they would work on the arrangement.
However it added that if the seven-day moving average of the daily number of unlinked Covid-19 cases is more than five in either Singapore or Hong Kong, the arrangement will be suspended for two weeks.
It will only be reinstated if the seven-day moving average of the daily number of unlinked Covid-19 cases on the last day of the suspension period is five or less, said CAAS.
Speaking to the media today, Transport Minister Ong Ye Kung said that the arrangement will achieve the objective of opening up borders and help to start rebuilding Singapore’s aviation hub.
Noting that this was the first air travel bubble between two cities in the region, if not in the world, Ong said Singapore and Hong Kong would work hard to ensure both cities are kept safe while opening up the borders.
“If we can do this, we can show the world...be used as a point of reference,” he said. — TODAY
