HongKong

Singapore and Hong Kong to launch travel bubble


Singapore and Hong Kong will launch a travel bubble to allow transit between the two Asian trading hubs and resuscitate economies pummelled by the Covid-19 pandemic.

Flights between the cities, which both have low numbers of new daily locally transmitted cases, will start on November 22. There will initially be one flight a day with a maximum of 200 passengers into Singapore and Hong Kong. This will increase to two daily flights from December 7.

Travellers from Singapore to Hong Kong will be subject to a coronavirus test before and after flying. Those flying from Hong Kong to Singapore will only be required to have a pre-departure test.

“To the best of my knowledge this is the first of its kind . . . in the region if not the world,” said Ong Ye Kung, Singapore’s transport minister. “This is as close as it gets to pre-Covid travel.”

Border closures to contain the pandemic have hit the economies of the Asian aviation and commercial trade hubs hard.

Singapore fell into recession for the first time since the global financial crisis, with authorities forecasting that GDP growth would contract by 5 to 7 per cent in 2020.

Singapore Airlines said earlier this year it would raise up to S$19bn ($14bn) to counter what it called “the greatest challenge” the group has faced. 

Hong Kong has been mired in recession for more than a year, with the pandemic adding to economic woes that began during the pro-democracy protests last year.

Cathay Pacific, Hong Kong’s de facto flag carrier, cut nearly a quarter of its staff and closed its regional Cathay Dragon brand last month.

Other travel bubbles have been established in the region but they remain more restrictive. Travellers from New Zealand are permitted to enter Australia but Australians cannot travel the opposite way. So-called fast lanes have also been established between Singapore and some Chinese cities but they only apply to essential business and official travel.

“If we can demonstrate to the world that this is successful it becomes a good reference point . . . that other places can look at,” said Mr Ong, adding that he hoped more jurisdictions would be added to the bubble.

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Pre-departure tests will cost HK$240 ($31) in Hong Kong and up to S$200 in Singapore. The cost of the polymerase chain reaction test upon arrival in Hong Kong will be nearly HKD$500. Arrival tests in Singapore are not mandatory but passengers will have to download TraceTogether, the city state’s tracing app.

The agreement will be suspended if there is a jump in coronavirus cases in either city.

Separately, Hong Kong announced more exemptions for residents in mainland China to enter to the city. Hong Kong residents in neighbouring Guangdong province and Macau will be exempted from quarantine upon returning to the city from November 23 if they have a negative Covid-19 test before travelling.



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