Singapore starts world’s first quarantine-free air travel bubble with Hong Kong

Quarantine-free leisure travel between Hong Kong and Singapore will resume on Nov. 22. According to details of a bilateral air travel bubble, under the new guidelines, passengers will be allowed to travel between the two locations without the need to isolate on arrival.

The agreement will not bring flights between the two locations to their pre-pandemic average of 18 per day, but Singapore’s minister for transport, Ong Ye Kung, hailed the agreement as a “first of its kind,” and said it could go some way in reinstating international travel.

“The Singapore-Hong Kong Air Travel Bubble enables us to achieve two objectives at the same time – open up our borders in a controlled manner, while maintaining safety in our societies,” Ong said.

There will be no restrictions on the purpose of travel and no requirement for a controlled itinerary or sponsorship. However, travellers must have no travel history to any place outside of Hong Kong or Singapore within 14 days prior to departure.

Passengers will be required to undergo a Covid-19 test and provide a negative result within 72 hours before departure. All travellers arriving in Hong Kong will also be required to take a Covid-19 test at the airport upon arrival.

Flights will be initially limited to one per day into each city with a limit of 200 travelers on each flight, but if the coronavirus situation does not deteriorate in either city, flights are expected to increase from Dec. 7 to two per day into each city.

In a statement, Edward Yau, Hong Kong’s Secretary for Economic Development and Commerce, said that should the weekly average of confirmed cases exceed five per day on either side, the bubble will be suspended for two weeks.

Arrivals will be subject to local Covid-19 restrictions in the respective markets, such as downloading a contact tracing app and wearing masks. Any travelers who contract the virus will be required to bear their own medical costs.

The designated air travel bubble flights will only ferry passengers traveling between Hong Kong and Singapore, and will not include those transiting through either of the cities, the announcement noted.

Without domestic air travel markets, the two Asian business hubs are heavily reliant on international travel. According to the respective cities’ official statistics, last year, Hong Kong recorded more than 453,000 visitor arrivals from Singapore, while Singapore received 489,000 visitors from Hong Kong,

Both Singapore and Hong Kong have been early advocates of introducing travel agreements with other countries considered to be low risk.

Singapore, for its part, has unilaterally opened its borders to tourists from select countries including Australia, Brunei, mainland China, Vietnam and New Zealand.

Meanwhile, Hong Kong is said to be in talks with 10 countries, including Japan and Thailand, over similar arrangements.