SIA is Resuming Daily Flights to the US from 18 Jan 2021

It appears that life is set to return to normal…

In more ways than one.

In light of the vaccine inoculation programme, international air travel has been recognised as viable once again. Coupled with PM Lee’s declaration that travel measures will be further eased in phase three of Singapore’s reopening, and the World Economic Forum switching over to Singapore, it’s little wonder why Singapore has been pronounced as “open for business”…

And subsequently, the resuming of Singapore Airlines’ daily non-stop flights to the US from 18 Jan 2021 onwards.

Yes, the United States of America, the country with the most number of COVID-19 cases in the world.

SIA is Resuming Daily Flights to the US from 18 Jan

Singapore Airlines will be continuing daily non-stop flights from Los Angeles, San Francisco, and New York’s JFK International once again.

The exact date has been unveiled to be 18 January 2021.

This comes from a series of “promising signs for recovery in international air travel”, with the commencement of the vaccine inoculation programme, PM Lee’s announcement and the World Economic Forum’s change of location all taken into account.

“The Government has taken on the objective of opening up Singapore,” said Mr Joey Seow, SIA’s regional vice-president.

Apparently, Americans will be allowed to transit here in Singapore – a notion that was initially not the case.

“Step by step, there are all these signs where there’s a lot more positivity,” he said.

“As more and more of these travel bubbles and green lanes are being negotiated, business opportunities will come about. The country begins to slowly but safely open up and we see encouraging signs, which are cause for further optimism.”

Preparations Have Begun

SIA has commenced three flights a week to New York, with one scheduled daily from next month.

This week, SIA has also begun flying three times a week to San Franciso.

“We used to have (flights) 17 times a week,” Mr Seow told The Straits Times. “Now, (it’s) three times a week; but that will go up to daily.”

“For LA, we are now at five a week, we will go up to daily in January. There are other services… Seattle (and) Houston, these will come back later.”

All flights will be non-stop, with designated aircraft improvised to meet required safety protocols.

“All SIA aircraft are equipped with the Hepa airflow management systems eliminating up to 99.97 per cent of bacteria, viruses and particulate matter from cabin air, which is replaced every two to three minutes.”

The Segregated Travel Lane

On 15 Dec 2020, it was reported that Singapore will launch a “segregated travel lane”.

The new travel lane, also known as the Connect@Singapore initiative, is aimed at short-term business travellers and accepts them from all countries to Singapore.

The new lane is open to “a limited number of business, official and high economic value travellers from all countries”.

They are only allowed to stay in Singapore for up to 14 days.

Applications for the new lane will start in the middle of January 2021 and Singapore can expect to start receiving them in the second half of January.

These visitors are not required to undergo any quarantine period.

You can read more about the lane here.

Featured Image: Fedor Selivanov / Shutterstock.com