Singapore weighs air hub reopening as Malaysia forges ahead

 

Air arrivals in Singapore were at a low of 330,000 in 2021 compared to 19.1 million in 2019. (Changi Airport pic)

SINGAPORE: Singapore is cautiously weighing when to reopen its borders in a bigger way amid a Covid-19 wave, even as it earmarks millions to revive its air hub status and Malaysia prepares to throw open its doors in less than a month.

The city state this week announced a package worth S$500 million to support its aviation sector, but stopped short of stating when it would follow its Southeast Asian peers in casting off restraints on international travel.

Transport minister S Iswaran told parliament on Wednesday that reopening the borders and spurring an aviation recovery is an “immediate priority” for Singapore, with other hubs like Dubai and Istanbul now restoring more traffic.

Singapore has traditionally relied on connectivity with Asia and other parts of the world to drive economic growth.

He highlighted how the financial centre has used “vaccinated travel lanes” for people coming from specific nations like Vietnam, Greece, Malaysia and Indonesia to allow inoculated individuals to travel to Singapore in a controlled manner.

“The next phase will entail a more fundamental shift — from vaccinated travel lanes to vaccinated, quarantine-free travel,” the minister said. The aim would be to allow all fully inoculated travellers from countries deemed “low risk” by the government to enter Singapore without quarantine.

Iswaran did not say when this would happen, however, emphasising that the timing “will depend on the public health situation in Singapore and the world, among other things”.

In contrast, Prime Minister Ismail Sabri Yaakob announced this week that Malaysia’s borders will open April 1 for quarantine-free travel and tourism, with some measures for Covid-19 testing in place.

The move is part of a “transition to endemic phase”, he said, referring to plans to coexist with and manage the coronavirus.

The more infectious Omicron variant has sent Malaysia’s infection numbers soaring to new records in recent weeks, but most cases are mild or asymptomatic. Roughly 80% of the population has received a regimen of two vaccine doses, with nearly half also having had an additional booster shot.

Singapore’s vaccine programme is similarly advanced: More than 90% of those who are eligible have had two jabs, with around 70% having had the booster.

Omicron is keeping infection numbers high in the city state, however, apparently prompting its leaders to hesitate on reopening further. While the government has a goal to “live with Covid”, it has shown a wariness of putting more pressure on already stretched health resources.

A plan to simplify pandemic measures was put on hold this month, with the health ministry explaining that daily local case numbers and hospitalisations remained elevated, though most cases are mild or symptom-free.

Singapore reported around 22,000 infections on Tuesday, with the number trending downward the following days.

Health minister Ong Ye Kung did give a positive signal on Wednesday. “There are now good indications that the Omicron transmission wave has peaked and is starting to subside”, he said in parliament. “With that, I hope health care workers will finally have a well-deserved and lasting respite.”

As it waits out the current wave, Singapore is preparing its air hub to handle the demands of traffic whenever it decides to shed restrictions and ramp up tourism. Singapore saw a historically low 330,000 visitors in 2021, as the impact of widespread restrictions far outweighed the modest attempts to revive travel.

Receipts from those arrivals came to an estimated S$1.9 billion – paling in comparison to even 2020, the first year of the pandemic, when 2.7 million visitors generated S$4.4 billion. Back in pre-pandemic 2019, the city state welcomed 19.1 million visitors and reaped around S$27 billion.

For Singapore’s “hub” economy, business and leisure travel used to be a key source of income, with tourism contributing about 4% to gross domestic product before the pandemic.

Out of the S$500 million pot that Singapore has earmarked to resuscitate aviation, S$60 million will go towards support for human resources that the industry needs as companies rebuild capacity ahead of demand.

A total of S$390 million will be for cost relief and measures to safeguard public health at Singapore’s Changi Airport, along with S$50 million for the sector to pursue a digital transformation over the long term.

Iswaran said Singapore’s pandemic travel lanes enabled its air hub to attain passenger volumes of about 15% of pre-Covid levels in December, and emphasised the need to sustain the momentum.

“Other aviation hubs, like Dubai, Qatar and Istanbul, are already at up to 70% of their pre-Covid international passenger traffic,” he noted. “In our region, Malaysia, Vietnam, Thailand and the Philippines have announced plans to reopen their borders to all vaccinated travellers.”

He said the air connectivity offered by Changi Airport anchors the Singapore economy.

“Many companies choose to be in Singapore because they can easily reach their customers and suppliers in our region and beyond,” he said. “To lose Changi’s connectivity is to lose this key competitive advantage, and our livelihoods that depend on it.” - FMT