SINGAPORE: The resumption of air travel bubble talks between Singapore and Australia is a welcome development for airlines of both countries and the millions of Singapore and Australia residents who are keen to have their first overseas holidays in more than a year.
In the most recent examples, New South Wales, South Australia and Western Australia closed their borders with Victoria in February and South Australia, Queensland and Victoria shut their borders with New South Wales in January.Advertisement Very small number of local cases also have led to snap lockdowns in recent months in Adelaide, Brisbane, Melbourne and parts of Sydney.
It now seems this tactic has succeeded as on Mar 18 New Zealand indicated that it is ready to move forward with the trans-Tasman bubble as early as April. While these one-way schemes have been temporarily closed at times due to local cases, at the moment they are again in effect, enabling passengers arriving in Singapore from Australia or New Zealand and arriving in Australia from New Zealand to avoid quarantine.
Air travel bubbles have restrictions on the number of flights and Australia may require that passengers are vaccinated, providing an extra level of safety to supplement the typical COVID testing requirement. While there are numerous uncertainties that could derail a Singapore-Australia bubble, if it does happen it could have a significant impact on the aviation and tourism sectors in both countries.POTENTIAL TO BE A MUCH BIGGER TRAVEL BUBBLE
The Qantas Group, which includes budget subsidiary Jetstar, served Singapore prior to the pandemic from five cities in Australia with up to eight daily flights. There is also a large Australian expat community in Singapore and a large Singaporean community in Australia, including students that fly between the two countries and would not be counted in the visitor numbers., there were about 2 million annual local passengers prior to the pandemic.A Singapore-Australia bubble therefore has the potential to be much bigger than the Singapore-Hong Kong bubble.However, this will depend on how many flights are ultimately permitted.
Singapore Latest News, Singapore Headlines
Similar News:You can also read news stories similar to this one that we have collected from other news sources.
Source: ChannelNewsAsia - 🏆 6. / 66 Read more »
Source: ChannelNewsAsia - 🏆 6. / 66 Read more »
Source: ChannelNewsAsia - 🏆 6. / 66 Read more »
Source: ChannelNewsAsia - 🏆 6. / 66 Read more »
Source: BusinessTimes - 🏆 15. / 51 Read more »