Singapore — Even as the Government characterises the country’s easing of Covid restrictions as being done in a “controlled, careful and calibrated” manner, as Finance Minister Lawrence Wong said in the multi-ministry task force press conference on Monday (Nov 15), more steps toward opening up on an international scale are ongoing.
These include expanding the VTL and opening up to international conferences, including the Bloomberg New Economy Forum this week.
Singapore’s “Vaccinated Travel Lanes” scheme, which is currently allowing quarantine-free travel from 13 countries, will expand to include five more countries from Nov 19 onward (India, Indonesia, Qatar, Saudi Arabia and the United Arab Emirates).
Coming this week is not only the Bloomberg Forum from Nov 16 to 19, headlined by luminaries such as former United Kingdom Tony Blair and three-time Mayor of New York, Michael Bloomberg, but also the Milken Institute Asia Summit, which is scheduled to have both in-person and virtual events.
Resuming the Formula One night racing event is also in the works, with discussions ongoing with F1 management and the Singapore Grand Prix.
“Singapore has begun the arduous task of reestablishing itself as Asia’s international aviation hub,” read a Bloomberg report on Nov 15, after the expanded VTL scheme was announced.
With the five additional countries, the number of vaccinated tourists allowed to enter Singapore daily will increase from 6,000 to 10,000.
And while this may seem like a high number, it is only around 13 per cent of the number of daily arrivals in Singapore before Covid struck.
Still, the VTL is must be providing a boost to Singapore, with over 24,000 vaccinated travellers entering the country as of Nov 14.
One of the first to benefit from this part of the country’s reopening is Singapore Airlines.
The Covid-19 pandemic has been difficult across all sectors, but among the hardest hit has been the national carrier, posting in May a record S$4.27 billion loss, the second year in a row it has suffered an annual loss.
2021 has hardly been better, because from January through September, international flights at Changi Airport, was just 2 per cent of pre-pandemic levels.
However, the VTL scheme is breathing new life into SIA.
From ferrying 136,000 monthly up until September, SIA saw an increase of nearly 30,000 passengers in October.
The SIA Group said on Nov 16 that it expects to operate at 43 per cent of pre-COVID passenger capacity by next month.
Additionally, 135 SIA and Scoot aircraft are expected to be deployed this month, including three A380s. Also, over 90 per cent of its pilots and 86 per cent of crew have reported for work.
However, in order to prevent overwhelming the country’s healthcare system, authorities are expected to still keep a close eye on infection numbers, and to continue to implement measures—included ones differentiated between vaccinated and unvaccinated individuals.
Mr Wong underlined this in Monday’s press conference, saying that after changes are announced, the task force assigned to deal with the pandemic watches the situation closely in the days and weeks that follow, and the next adjustments are only made when the overall infection situation stabilises.
“So, we have done some moves already. We will monitor the situation over the next few days, and early next week we will give a further update on our possible next steps,” he said. /TISG
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