Singapore, Hong Kong postpone air travel bubble

By Riyaz ul Khaliq

ANKARA (AA) – Amid a spike in coronavirus infections, Hong Kong and Singapore have decided to postpone the “air travel bubble” until next year.

The air bubble arrangements will be reviewed at the end of this month, officials in Hong Kong said in a statement to the daily South China Morning Post on Tuesday.

The two sides had agreed in October to launch an air travel bubble from Nov. 22.

However, the Hong Kong semi-autonomous region is witnessing a spike in infections with the “fourth wave of the coronavirus.”

And the officials from the two sides on Nov. 21 agreed to postpone for at least two weeks to give Hong Kong time “to reassess its newest outbreak of COVID-19 cases.”

Under the arrangement, Hong Kong and Singapore would have started with one flight a day into each city with a quota of 200 travelers per flight.

“This will increase to two flights a day into each city from Dec. 7,” the Civil Aviation Authority of Singapore (CAAS) had said.

The travelers aged above 12 years were supposed to present a negative PCR test result within 72 hours before the departure time.

“The decision on a further deferral of the launch date of the ATB [air travel bubble] was taken in view of the severity of the epidemic situation in Hong Kong, with the number of local cases of unknown sources increasing rapidly,” the Hong Kong government’s statement said.

Hong Kong has reported 6,314 coronavirus cases, including 109 related deaths.