It’s been around 10 months since the pandemic began dominating the world and changing life as we know it – and finally, the long awaited Phase 3 has arrived to much celebration.
However, Phase 3 doesn’t give us back all we once knew and enjoyed before this disastrous year – we still can’t go to karaokes, parties, and most importantly, we’re still unable to travel overseas.
But while we can survive (if only barely) without travelling, the aviation sector’s unfortunately still having a hard time doing just that, having been knocked out of the sky by COVID-19 – which calls for more help.
More Funding To Be Provided To Aviation Sector
The Civil Aviation Authority of Singapore (CAAS) announced on 29 December, Tuesday, that the government would provide yet another $84 million more to the aviation sector to reduce the heavy impact it faced from COVID-19.
Previously, support had also been given in the form of a S$112 million Aviation Sector Assistance Package in February, and the S$187 million Enhanced Aviation Support Package in August.
“Given ongoing border restrictions and the resurgence of COVID-19 in many countries over winter, air travel will not recover soon. It is therefore critical that we maintain our support for the sector to help aviation companies and workers tide through the crisis,” the CAAS said.
They emphasised that the aviation sector was one of the hardest hit in the pandemic, with year-on-year passenger traffic movements declining by a whopping 98%.
Since these aviation companies do still have to travel as much as they can, they’ve also invested more into measures that enable safe air travel to minimise public health risks, requiring additional infrastructure, equipment and manpower – the costs of which cannot be covered from passengers in this time.
Aircraft and baggage sanitisation systems, amongst other protective measures against staff contracting the virus, will be provided by the government who will fund the development, adoption and deployment of these innovative technologies.
Rebates for fees and charges will still be provided by the government, while fees for Singapore-based airlines for their Certificates of Airworthiness and licence fees for providing scheduled air services will all be waived by the CAAS. This is applicable to fees payable between 1 April 2020 and 31 March 2021.
They added that licence fees for ground handling and catering services at both Changi and Seletar airports will be given a 50% rebate during the same period as well.
All of the above measures will cost up to S$39 million, said the CAAS.
Support For Workers
Workers in the aviation sector have also been hit hard, with some of them taking no-pay leave and wage cuts, and the government will aid them during these trying times with additional support.
Under this, pilots, air traffic controllers and aircraft maintenance engineers will get a full rebate on their licence fees and medical evaluation fees.
The CAAS also promised that they “will work with SkillsFuture Singapore, Workforce Singapore, NTUC LearningHub and the NTUC Aerospace and Aviation Cluster to help at-risk and under-employed aviation workers to enhance their employability and acquire skills to move to other jobs within the sector.”
New programmes will be developed as well, such as re-training pilots to ensure skills are kept current with help from SkillsFuture Singapore, with more details to come next month.
Senior Minister of State for Transport Chee Hong Tat also mentioned that local pilots will be able to convert their licenses in the near future as well, with the amount of retrenched Singaporean pilots who returned to Singapore after working for foreign airlines and hold foreign pilot licences.
“We reviewed our rules to enable them to apply for a Singapore pilot licence so that they can work for a local airline in the future,” he added.
These support measures amount to about $20 million.
Productivity Efforts Will Be Supported Too
In order to manage longer-term manpower constraints and ensure the sector is ready to bounce back, the CAAS holds that companies should invest in projects that “improve productivity and build capabilities”.
An additional $25 million will thus be invested into the Aviation Development Fund (ADF), enhancing the funding support of companies’ initiatives up to 90% until the end of March 2022.
“Such productivity efforts will improve the attractiveness of the sector to Singaporeans, support the employability of older workers, and reduce the sector’s reliance on foreign workforce in the longer-term,” they added.
The CAAS also hopes to “strengthen the resilience of our companies and workers in the aviation sector as the sector continues to weather the COVID-19 pandemic.”
Minister for Transport Ong Ye Kung sees the utmost importance of reviving the air travel industry safely and bringing Singapore’s aviation hub back as well.
“Together, we will tide through this arduous journey and take our place in the skies again,” he said in a year-end video done by the ministry.
May 2021 be a better year for air travel, at least.
You can watch the video Mr Ong did here:
Featured Image: EQRoy / Shutterstock.com
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