The Civil Aviation Authority of Singapore (CAAS) on Thursday (28 Jan) shed light on earlier remarks made by India’s High Commissioner in Singapore P Kumaran on a potential air travel bubble between the two countries.

During an interview with CNBC on Monday (25 Jan), Mr Kumaran stated that India and Singapore are currently in negotiation to open an air travel bubble between the two countries.

The High Commissioner said, “I think there is a fair amount of interest on both sides to enhance the connectivity which we have enjoyed over the years,” adding that the connectivity that has been enjoyed between the two countries have been seriously disrupted due to COVID-19.

“So we are talking about a proposal to restore step by step the connectivity that we enjoyed earlier, and there is a draft under negotiation,” he explained.

Following this, the CAAS clarified that the air travel bubble which Mr Kumaran spoke of may not be similar to the ones Singapore has going on with other countries.

“Countries may have different understanding on what an air travel bubble is. Singapore is not discussing an air travel bubble arrangement with India as Singaporeans understand it to be,” said Daniel Ng, Director of Air Transport at CAAS, in a statement earlier today, as cited by Mothership.

While Mr Ng did confirm that there is interest on both sides to explore gradually resuming international scheduled commercial passenger flights between Singapore and India, he noted that travellers will be subject to travel restrictions and border and health measures, such as testing and Stay-Home Notices.

Currently, air travel between Singapore and India is restricted only to special repatriation flights chartered by the Indian government.

Concern among the public on Singapore allowing travellers from India given the rise in imported cases from the country

There has already been concern among the public about Singapore allowing travellers into the country, as the number of imported COVID-19 cases continue to rise.

Singapore reported 25 new cases on Wednesday (27 Jan), all of which are imported cases.

In fact, most of the imported cases of COVID-19 in Singapore are from India.

According to figures from the Ministry of Health (MOH) in the past three days, 31 out of 83 imported cases were from India. That’s roughly 37.3 per cent.

Meanwhile, India has reported over 10.7 million cases of COVID-19 to date, with daily new cases hitting the over tens of thousands between July to December 2020. In January 2021, the daily new cases were coming in at over 10,000.

On 27 January, India reported 12,689 new COVID-19 cases.

Subscribe
Notify of
54 Comments
Newest
Oldest Most Voted
Inline Feedbacks
View all comments
You May Also Like

Growth forecast slashed to -0.5 per cent, exports dropped 3.3% in January due to COVID-19 fears

On Monday (17 Feb), Singapore announced that its January’s non-oil domestic exports…

公交理事会称今年车资调涨顶限七巴仙

公共交通理事会今天(9月3日)称,将展开新一轮常年车资检讨,公共交通业者,可在本月23日前,提交车资调整建议。 不过,该理事会限定今年车资最多只能调涨七巴仙。 公交理事会称,是根据2018年- 2022年适用车资计算方程式,算出今年车资调涨顶限。 理事会解释,影响新一轮车资调涨顶限的最大因素,是能源价格出现双位数增长。2017年,能源价格上涨26.2巴仙,去年则达到32.3巴仙。 上述方程式考量到其他宏观经济价格指数,也在过去一年攀涨,例如工资指数和核心通货膨胀指数,分别上升了3.5巴仙和1.7巴仙。 至于反映供需的公共交通网络容量因素,达到1.6巴仙。 今年7月,交通部长许文远今天在国会上指出,政府目前补贴超过30巴仙的公共交通运营,并表示有需要在四年内提升票价来维持津贴。 “2016年至2017年期间,铁路网络的运营成本,增加了约2亿7000万元。”他也指出,铁路公司在亏本经营,在最近的一个财政年度,新加坡地铁公司(SMRT)亏损8600万元,新捷运(SBS Transit)的轻轨部门也面对着数千万元的亏损。 对于公共交通理事会检讨票价的机制,许文远称该理事会并没有完全落实车资调整幅度,例如2011年,车资方程式允许业者调高车资2.8巴仙,但理事会只批准1巴仙。

NDP 2020 fireworks will be launched at 10 locations islandwide

On Singapore’s 55th National Day this Sunday (9 Aug), fireworks will be…