SINGAPORE, Aug 15 (The Straits Times/ANN): Singapore may consider introducing reciprocal green lanes at Changi Airport for tourists from countries where the Covid-19 situation is similar to or better than that in Singapore.
This means leisure travellers from such a country will be exempted from having to serve a 14-day quarantine on arrival, and vice versa.
Transport Minister Ong Ye Kung suggested the arrangement as a way to help lift the passenger numbers at Changi to about 40 per cent of pre-Covid levels.
"Serving 14 days in isolation is a major deterrent to travellers, and we may have to consider replacing this with a rigorous testing regime," he said in his maiden speech to the staff of his ministry, to which he was appointed last month (July 25) in a Cabinet reshuffle.
Ong also said Singapore could explore letting tourists from countries or regions which have kept the virus under control to fly into Singapore even when they bar Singaporeans from entering there.
Currently, Singapore has reciprocal fast-lane arrangements at the airport for visitors from China and Malaysia on business and official trips.
For instance, those from China travelling to Singapore must do a Covid-19 swab test 48 hours before departure and after they land, among other conditions Similar agreements are in the works with countries like New Zealand, which, however, saw a surge in infections recently.
While these possibilities will help lift the airport and aviation sector out of its worst crisis in history, Ong also underlined the need for the same enterprise Singapore had in its early days that led to the creation of not just the air hub but also its port.
In his National Day address, Ong painted, in broad strokes, the growth of Singapore's transport, especially its global connections by sea and air, which can be traced largely to Singapore's geographical location.
"But geographical endowment is not enough because the road we travelled since then is not made by nature but carved by hand," he said.
A few generations of Singaporeans worked hard as they seized the maritime opportunities that, over the years, led to the rise of various hubs, including in aviation, finance and infocomms, he noted.
Singapore port is the world's No. 2 in terms of cargo volume, a spot it held for nearly 50 years.
On land, "the MRT map today is as tight and as comprehensive as many advanced European cities", the minister said.
And Changi Airport is among the top, if not the top, in the world.
Then Covid-19 slammed the world this year. The damage to Changi is crippling. It was the world's seventh busiest airport in terms of international passenger traffic.
Daily, it had more than 1,000 plane movements. Today, it is in 50th position, with just 150 plane movements.
"The airport has been almost totally incapacitated. Strict border measures and health concerns have deflated international air travel to almost zero," Ong noted.
"We have started to serve transfer and transit passengers, but even at its peak, they accounted for at most a third of total Changi passenger traffic." Now, it is at 400 passenger movements a day, or 150,000 a year, compared with the pre-Covid-19 volume of close to 20 million a year.
"As colleagues from Changi Airport told me, Covid-19 set us back by at least 40 years, to 1981 when Terminal 1 first opened," the minister said.
It was a time when airlines had not decided on flying to Singapore.
"We went all out... to invite the carriers to Changi.
"Today, the airlines are here, and Changi has grown into a world-class airport," he noted.
"Our challenge is to restore passenger volume, while keeping virus transmission under control. The circumstances are different, but we need the same hunger and enterprise as we had in the early 1980s." - The Straits Times/ANsian News Network
This means leisure travellers from such a country will be exempted from having to serve a 14-day quarantine on arrival, and vice versa.
Transport Minister Ong Ye Kung suggested the arrangement as a way to help lift the passenger numbers at Changi to about 40 per cent of pre-Covid levels.
"Serving 14 days in isolation is a major deterrent to travellers, and we may have to consider replacing this with a rigorous testing regime," he said in his maiden speech to the staff of his ministry, to which he was appointed last month (July 25) in a Cabinet reshuffle.
Ong also said Singapore could explore letting tourists from countries or regions which have kept the virus under control to fly into Singapore even when they bar Singaporeans from entering there.
Currently, Singapore has reciprocal fast-lane arrangements at the airport for visitors from China and Malaysia on business and official trips.
For instance, those from China travelling to Singapore must do a Covid-19 swab test 48 hours before departure and after they land, among other conditions Similar agreements are in the works with countries like New Zealand, which, however, saw a surge in infections recently.
While these possibilities will help lift the airport and aviation sector out of its worst crisis in history, Ong also underlined the need for the same enterprise Singapore had in its early days that led to the creation of not just the air hub but also its port.
In his National Day address, Ong painted, in broad strokes, the growth of Singapore's transport, especially its global connections by sea and air, which can be traced largely to Singapore's geographical location.
"But geographical endowment is not enough because the road we travelled since then is not made by nature but carved by hand," he said.
A few generations of Singaporeans worked hard as they seized the maritime opportunities that, over the years, led to the rise of various hubs, including in aviation, finance and infocomms, he noted.
Singapore port is the world's No. 2 in terms of cargo volume, a spot it held for nearly 50 years.
On land, "the MRT map today is as tight and as comprehensive as many advanced European cities", the minister said.
And Changi Airport is among the top, if not the top, in the world.
Then Covid-19 slammed the world this year. The damage to Changi is crippling. It was the world's seventh busiest airport in terms of international passenger traffic.
Daily, it had more than 1,000 plane movements. Today, it is in 50th position, with just 150 plane movements.
"The airport has been almost totally incapacitated. Strict border measures and health concerns have deflated international air travel to almost zero," Ong noted.
"We have started to serve transfer and transit passengers, but even at its peak, they accounted for at most a third of total Changi passenger traffic." Now, it is at 400 passenger movements a day, or 150,000 a year, compared with the pre-Covid-19 volume of close to 20 million a year.
"As colleagues from Changi Airport told me, Covid-19 set us back by at least 40 years, to 1981 when Terminal 1 first opened," the minister said.
It was a time when airlines had not decided on flying to Singapore.
"We went all out... to invite the carriers to Changi.
"Today, the airlines are here, and Changi has grown into a world-class airport," he noted.
"Our challenge is to restore passenger volume, while keeping virus transmission under control. The circumstances are different, but we need the same hunger and enterprise as we had in the early 1980s." - The Straits Times/ANsian News Network
Already a subscriber? Log in
Get 20% OFF The Star Digital Access
Cancel anytime. Ad-free. Unlimited access with perks.
