Singapore and Hong Kong agree in-principle to establish air travel bubble

SINGAPORE and Hong Kong have reached an in-principle agreement to establish a bilateral air travel bubble (ATB), where travellers will not be subject to any quarantine or stay-home notice requirements, or a controlled itinerary.

The in-principle agreement, confirmed by Singapore's Transport Ministry in a press statement on Thursday, was reached during a videoconference on Wednesday between Transport Minister Ong Ye Kung and Edward Yau, who is Secretary for Commerce and Economic Development of the Hong Kong Special Administrative Region Government.

Mr Ong said in the statement that the agreement was made due to the low incidence of Covid-19 cases in both cities, along with "robust mechanisms to manage and control" the virus.

"It is a safe, careful but significant step forward to revive air travel and provide a model for future collaboration with other parts of the world," he added.

There will be no restrictions on travel purpose under the ATB, though travellers will be subject to mutually recognised Covid-19 polymerase chain reaction tests and would need to have negative test results.

Additionally, they will be required to travel on dedicated flights, such as flights that only serve ATB travellers.

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Travellers must also have been in either Hong Kong and Singapore for a 14-day period before they make the journey. Those arriving in Singapore may have to use the TraceTogether token while they are here.

There will be a quota on the number of people that can travel between Hong Kong and Singapore under the ATB, but as operations stabilise, the two cities will consider increasing the quota.

The ATB can thus be scaled up or down, or even suspended, depending on the latest developments and the Covid-19 situation in the two cities.

Mr Ong, speaking to the media on Thursday afternoon, cautioned that there could be a suspension if there is a spike in cases.

Both governments are aiming to achieve early implementation of the ATB, and will be fleshing out its full details in the coming weeks.

The launch date of the Singapore-Hong Kong ATB, along with other implementation details, will be announced at a later date.

Mr Ong told reporters on Thursday that he hopes to see the ATB take off in a matter of weeks.

"Both Hong Kong and Singapore are regional, even global, aviation hubs. For the two of us to be able to control the pandemic and come together to discuss and establish this air travel bubble, hopefully this sets a model for us to forge more of such relationships and partnerships," he added.

"We want to do things progressively, cautious, steadily, safely, but open up our aviation sector. We have to try. The aviation hub concerns the entire economy... hundreds of thousands of jobs are at stake," said Mr Ong.

Meanwhile, Hong Kong's Mr Yau called the agreement a "milestone in efforts to resume normalcy" while fighting against the Covid-19 pandemic.

Mr Yau said in the statement: "I have every confidence that the ATB arrangement can come to fruition very soon to facilitate resumption of air travel between our two economies."

An aviation industry insider had told the South China Morning Post that the Singapore-Hong Kong ATB could launch as early as next month, but that December was seen as more realistic.