Singapore, Hong Kong air travel bubble to launch on Nov 22

SINGAPORE and Hong Kong will launch their bilateral air travel bubble on Nov 22, allowing people in both cities to travel without quarantine, stay-home notices or controlled itineraries.

Travellers from both cities must travel on designated flights serving only the air travel bubble travellers.

As a start, there will be one flight a day into each city with a quota of 200 travellers per flight.

From Dec 7, this will be increased to two flights a day into each city with a quota of 200 travellers per flight.

Travellers are required to have been in either Hong Kong or Singapore for a 14-day period before they make the journey.

Holders of work permits or S-passes issued by Singapore working in the construction, marine shipyard or process sectors are excluded from travelling from Singapore to Hong Kong on the bubble.

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Travellers departing from both cities must take a pre-departure Covid-19 polymerase chain reaction (PCR) test within 72 hours before departure and obtain a negative test result. Children aged 12 or younger travelling from Hong Kong are exempted from this requirement.

In addition, those arriving in Hong Kong are required to take a Covid-19 test upon arrival at Hong Kong International Airport. Travellers must book and pay for this post-arrival PCR test at Hong Kong International Airport (HKIA) before leaving Singapore. They must remain in HKIA until they receive their negative test results.

Foreign travellers from Hong Kong will need to apply for an Air Travel Pass between seven and 30 calendar days before their intended date of entry in to Singapore. They can apply for the pass from Nov 12.

Minister for Transport Ong Ye Kung on Wednesday said he believes that this could be the first air travel bubble in the region, if not the world. He added that if this travel bubble demonstrates to be successful, it could serve as a reference point for the rest of the world.

The air travel bubble will be suspended for two weeks if the seven-day moving average of the daily number of unlinked novel coronavirus cases is more than five in either Singapore or Hong Kong. If the average on the last day of the suspension period is five or fewer, the air travel bubble arrangement will resume.