Singapore on Wednesday welcomed the first travellers under an expanded quarantine-free programme, marking a big step towards the aviation hub restoring its international links.
Singapore Airlines flights from Amsterdam and London arrived on Wednesday under the so-called vaccinated travel lanes (VTL).
From this week, the lanes will be extended to vaccinated arrivals from Canada, Denmark, France, Italy, the Netherlands, Spain, Britain and the United States, who can enter Singapore without quarantine if they pass COVID-19 tests.
Singapore earlier opened the lane to arrivals from Germany and Brunei and will include South Korea from mid-November.
Bookings on Singapore Airlines’ Singapore-Sydney and Sydney-Singapore routes went live last week for eligible customers on flights tagged as “For Eligible Passengers Only” (FEPO).
Eligibility to travel on these services is determined by the Australian Government and must at least meet the following criteria:
- Be an Australian citizen or permanent resident, and
- Have received two doses of a TGA approved or recognised vaccine, and
- Have a vaccine certificate that meets the Australian Government’s authenticity and verification requirements.
The national airline will resume Airbus A380 operations on selected services between Singapore and London from 18 November 2021.
Travellers arriving in the UK from 47 countries no longer need to quarantine, after the country relaxed travel restrictions on Monday 11 October.
While Singapore is opening further, a recent rise in cases has prompted tighter measures locally, including limiting social gatherings to two people and only allowing vaccinated people to enter shopping malls.
Mask-wearing is also mandatory, with some violators fined or even jailed for breaching COVID-19 regulations.
Singapore saw a record 3,994 new coronavirus cases on Tuesday, having recorded more than 3,000 daily infections in recent days. Most are asymptomatic or mild, with over 80% of the 5.45 million population vaccinated.
Source: AAP
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