Unilateral move to welcome visitors aimed at reviving business

Singapore

SINGAPORE'S unilateral move to welcome visitors from Brunei and New Zealand is an invitation to the world to bring business back to Singapore, Transport Minister Ong Ye Kung said at a media doorstop on Friday.

This has been Singapore's posture since its beginning, when it opened its skies unilaterally and removed tariffs on thousands of items to promote free trade, he noted. It does not mean that Singapore will not continue to pursue reciprocal green lane (RGL) arrangements or go further to upgrade RGLs to travel bubbles or corridors.

"Singapore is a small, open, globalised economy; and the aviation sector, Changi Airport and SIA (Singapore Airlines) do not concern just the aviation sector - it's linked to the whole economy. We need to start to take steps to open up in a safe manner that can revive Changi Airport, resuscitate the aviation sector," Mr Ong said.

"I believe we can strike a good balance between keeping Singapore safe and travellers here safe, as well as reviving the air travel sector."

All travellers from the two countries will not be required to serve stay-home notice (SHN) periods, but will be allowed to travel freely once they test negative on a swab test administered on arrival. The test results will be returned within 48 hours.

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Mr Ong shared that Brunei and New Zealand were selected based on their control of the epidemic situation, with incidence rates well below 0.1 infections per 100,000 population. This reduces the likelihood of a case entering Singapore from either country.

The flight capacity from the two countries also remains low at 500 weekly for flights between Singapore and Brunei, and 1,200 weekly for flights between Singapore and New Zealand.

Although Singapore is observing the case loads in these countries as a key determining factor for further negotiations, Mr Ong said the government will also gather input from medical experts on the trustworthiness of the numbers reported by different countries.

The Ministry of Transport, along with the Ministry of Foreign Affairs and the Ministry of Health, is monitoring the situation in various countries to explore possible unilateral reopenings, RGLs and travel corridors.

Mr Ong referred to a list of countries for which Singapore will be shortening the SHN to seven days and said they serve as a "reasonable starting point" for such plans. The territories on the list, shared by Education Minister Lawrence Wong earlier on Friday, are Australia (excluding Victoria state) Macau, mainland China, Taiwan, Vietnam and Malaysia.

Bilateral arrangements will take more time, but will certainly be more beneficial to the aviation sector, he said.

"The airline industry is quite clear. If you have a SHN of 14 days, seven days, you do discourage travel quite a bit," Mr Ong said. "We have to try to have like-minded partners with similar risk profiles, similarly successful in controlling the virus; then open up a bubble, open up a channel, and use tests to replace SHN."

Aviation industry players including Changi Airport Group and SIA welcomed the announcement, with Sats pledging to work with other players in the aviation ecosystem to make sure that guidelines are thoroughly implemented to safeguard employee and traveller safety.

"In this way, we hope to help restore confidence in air travel while ensuring that (the) Changi experience remains the best in the world," said Sats president and CEO Alex Hungate.

Said Conrad Clifford, the International Transport Association's regional vice-president for Asia-Pacific: "The recent remarks by Transport Minister Ong Ye Kung (are) reassuring and a breath of fresh air as the government clearly recognises aviation's strategic contribution to the Singapore economy. Having a viable aviation industry will be critical to economic recovery by ensuring effective connectivity with the rest of the world for the movement of people and goods."