Singapore will negotiate air travel bubbles with select safe countries or regions, which will allow the general public to travel without a controlled itinerary, said Minister of Transport Ong Ye Kung on Tuesday (Oct. 6).

During his ministerial statement in Parliament, Ong said Hong Kong has publicly announced its intention to establish such air travel bubbles with several countries, including Singapore.

Singapore has "responded positively" to this, and hope to commence discussions with Hong Kong and other partners soon, said Ong.

Different from reciprocal green lanes

According to Ong, such travel bubbles are different from the current reciprocal green lane arrangements, which are meant for business and official travel.

These two-way travel bubbles can be set up with safe countries and regions, and the risks can be managed by setting a quota on the number of travellers per day.

Singapore will also ensure that all travellers will abide by a Covid-19 test protocol.

In addition, the government will also require require travellers to apply for an Air Travel Pass before their journeys, which will allow Singapore to plan for their arrivals, and throttle the number of visitors if the pandemic worsens.

Singapore will lift border restrictions unilaterally to certain countries

This will not be the only step that Singapore takes to open up its borders and revive air travel.

Singapore will continue to pursue reciprocal green lane arrangements with partner countries or regions, where travellers are restricted to a small group of essential business and official travellers.

Such arrangements have been made with Brunei, China, Japan, Malaysia and South Korea.

Singapore will also lift border restrictions unilaterally to countries and regions with comprehensive public health surveillance systems, and comparable incidence rates to Singapore.

Ong said that "purely from an infection risk point of view", the risk of travellers from these places carrying Covid-19 is "no higher than that of a Singapore resident coming from Jurong or Sembawang".

By unilaterally lifting border restrictions, Singapore is essentially issuing a standing invitation to these countries when they are ready to lift restrictions themselves.

This will facilitate the restoration of aviation links between Singapore and such countries, as there will be no need for lengthy bilateral negotiations.

Air travel unlikely to resume by December

However, despite these measures, Ong warned Singaporeans not to be too optimistic.

"For members who are hoping to hear announcements on some air travel resumption and even possible December holiday destinations, I am sorry I will disappoint you," said Ong.

He said that while some countries, such as the U.S., UK, Turkey and the Maldives allow general travellers from Singapore, borders remain closed for most parts of the world.

Ong said that while Singapore cannot control what other countries want to do with their borders, it can control its own borders, in order to welcome back visitors and bring back jobs safely.

We deliver more stories to you on LinkedIn

Top image via Unsplash.