S’pore Not Giving Up ATB With Hong Kong; Will Launch It “When Conditions Are Right”

After being confined to their respective homes for the past year, wanderlust-consumed Singaporeans are more than eager to hop on the next flight to any country overseas for a long-overdue vacation.

The only way this is going to be ever possible is via an air travel bubble (ATB) that would allow these travel-deprived tourists to travel to other countries in relative ease, by pandemic norms of course.

But we all know that when the first ATB deal is almost at the finish line, something will cause it to be deferred.

The Hong Kong-Singapore ATB that was originally scheduled to be launched back in November last year was temporarily cancelled no thanks to the sudden spike in cases in Hong Kong.

However, our Minister for Transport, Mr Ong Ye Kung, said this yesterday (5 March), “We will not give up on the idea.”

Recap of the ATB That We’ve Chosen to Forget

Travelling to anywhere outside the country became a huge hassle with the start of the pandemic, what with the need for compulsory weeks-long quarantines and several COVID-19 tests that most of the time, the travellers themselves will have to bear the cost for.

Although necessary and has been proven to work, the quarantine is a major factor impeding the revival of the aviation sector despite the longing of many people worldwide to be able to fly once again.

With an air travel bubble, travellers between two countries or cities will only be subject to COVID-19 tests, minus all the quarantine and isolation.

But of course, the ATB will only be enacted between locations where the COVID-19 transmission is under control, such as Australia, New Zealand, Brunei, China and potentially, one day – Hong Kong.“We can also identify places with low to moderate infection rates, and combine vaccination and tests, even bubble wrap travel, to open up travel corridors.

He added, “We will do our best to make these arrangements bilateral so Singaporeans can travel outwards too.”

According to Mr Ong, the whole point of this is to limit the hassle to travellers to encourage them to travel and help revive the battered travel and aviation industry, while making sure to “substantially mitigate the risk of coronavirus transmission” both in the destination they are headed to and when they come back home.

Will the Vaccination Effort Help Accelerate the Launch?

The short answer – yes.

According to the minister, COVID-19 vaccinations are a “new critical development”.

“As more scientific data becomes available, we will be able to ascertain the extent to which vaccination reduces the likelihood of someone carrying the virus and passing from somebody else. This will enable us to allow vaccinated individuals to travel with fewer restrictions, perhaps even without stay-at-home notices (SHNs),” said Mr Ong.

This will in turn require some form of certification system, much like the “vaccine passport” idea that has been touted around the internet for months now, ever since the first COVID vaccine made its way into someone’s arm.

This is something that Singapore has been actively engaged in, especially with international platforms like the International Civil Aviation Organization.

About 85% of the frontline workers in both the aviation and maritime sectors have received both doses of the vaccine as well, so we’ll definitely be able to hit the ground running.

So you might be asking: what’s the ETA on this HK-SG air travel bubble? My itch to travel is getting uncontrollable!

You should probably grab some anti-itch cream first because that ATB isn’t getting launched anytime soon.

When asked, the minister didn’t provide a definitive answer, and it’s obvious he couldn’t due to the constantly changing pandemic situation… I’m looking at you, the new Brazilian variant.

However, he assured the nation that although an ATB has not yet been launched successfully. He said, “We were close, but we could not. But we have now an agreed text with Hong Kong, and the ATB can be launched when conditions are right.”

…but seriously, when’s that though?

At this moment, you probably know that Singapore has COVID-19 under control, while in Hong Kong, they’re reporting fewer than 15 new cases per day.

Featured Image: Yung Chi Wai Derek / Shutterstock.com