Only one more flight from Singapore to Hong Kong this month

[HONG KONG] Singapore Airlines's budget carrier Scoot has stopped accepting bookings to Hong Kong until Mar 7 after being banned from flying to the city for 2 weeks.

The move severs one of the last air links between the Asian financial hubs, with a Feb 22 service by Cathay Pacific's HK Express unit the sole flight from Singapore to Hong Kong remaining this month.

The route was one of the busiest in the world before the pandemic hit.

Scoot said on Monday its daily TR980 flight from Singapore to Hong Kong has been suspended.

The ban comes after Hong Kong authorities blocked Singapore Airlines from flying to the city for two weeks from Feb 16 after too many passengers tested positive for Covid-19 upon arrival.

Hong Kong has become increasingly cut off from the world as it tries to gain control of its worst Covid outbreak since the pandemic started.

The Hong Kong government didn't immediately respond to a request for comment.

Cathay operated one flight to and from Singapore in February and has just one next month, on Mar 19, its website showed.

That's in stark contrast to the 252 monthly flights scheduled pre-pandemic, according to previously published timetables.

Air travel in and out of Hong Kong continues to be challenging. Hong Kong has banned flights from nine countries including the UK and US as well as transit travel from everywhere except Taiwan and mainland China.

Most people who manage to get into the city face 2 weeks mandatory hotel quarantine. BLOOMBERG