Out-Law News 1 min. read
29 Apr 2021, 6:09 am
Singapore and Hong Kong will allow flights between the cities from 26 May as part of a revised air travel bubble (ATB).
Conditions for the ATB travellers are stricter than the original ATB agreement that was published in November 2020. There will be one flight a day in each direction, capped at 200 passengers on each flight for the first two weeks.
According to the announcement, travellers must have stayed in either Singapore or Hong Kong for 14 days before leaving, and the 14-day period must exclude any time spent in quarantine or Stay-Home Notice (SHN) upon their last return to Singapore or Hong Kong from overseas.
Travellers from Singapore are required to download and install Hong Kong’s LeaveHomeSafe (LHS) app on their mobile devices before leaving Singapore for Hong Kong. They must keep relevant records for 31 days after departure from the two cities.
Travellers from both sides have to be tested negative for Covid-19 before they can board the direct flights and they must travel on designated ATB flights. They must follow the border control measures and public health requirements of both cities.
If the ATB has to be suspended when the seven-day moving average of the unlinked community cases in either Singapore or Hong Kong increases to more than five, it can only resume when the Covid-19 situation has stabilised.
Hong Kong residents are encouraged to get vaccinated and they are allowed to travel under the ATB by taking designated flights to fly to Singapore at least 14 days after they have had two doses of Covid-19 vaccine.
Mayumi Soh of Pinsent Masons MPillay, the Singapore joint law venture between MPillay and Pinsent Masons, the law firm behind Out-Law, said: “The relaunch of the travel bubble will be likely to be perceived as a sign that the Covid-19 situation is currently under control. If this travel bubble is successful, it could pave the way for further collaborations and travel bubbles between Singapore and other destinations.”
Singapore and Hong Kong originally reached an ATB agreement last November and designated flights were planned to start in the same month. The launch of the ATB was delayed in view of the epidemic situation in Hong Kong.
