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SINGAPORE, Jan 9 (PTI) Singapore’s transport minister S Iswaran said on Monday that Singapore will “cautiously resume” air links with China while monitoring the changing COVID-19 situation around the world as China’s new “quarantine-free” Next day under reopening of borders for international travelers” rules.
Meanwhile, Iswaran said Singapore will continue to take a cautious approach to ensure passengers have a safe and smooth experience.
“As China reopens its borders, we will continue to take this cautious approach to ensure Changi Airport’s ability to manage the increase in flights, provide clarity and certainty to airlines, and ensure a safe and smooth experience for passengers,” he said. Channel News Asia quoted him as saying.
He noted that airlines in Singapore and China had applied to operate more flights between the two countries, and the Civil Aviation Authority of Singapore (CAAS) was evaluating the applications.
Read also | COVID-19 surge: Germany, Belgium, Luxembourg discourage non-essential travel to China.
Singapore has “accelerated the pace of flight resumption” to ensure Changi Airport has the capacity to support expected flights and passenger flows, he said.
“This provides our aviation stakeholders with valuable preparation time to build their capabilities while recruiting and training staff,” he added.
With weekly flight numbers at Changi Airport returning to nearly 80% of pre-pandemic levels, there will be 25 weekly flights between China and Singapore by the end of October 2022, Iswaran said.
It increased to 36 flights per week around mid-December last year.
There are currently 38 weekly flights between the two countries, including two recently approved flights to Beijing. This applies to an average of five to six flights per day between Singapore and China at Changi Airport.
“For context, this is less than 10% of the number of flights between China and Singapore pre-COVID … and about 1.5% of the total number of flights handled by Changi Airport today,” Iswaran explained.
“We receive 700 to 1,000 inbound passengers from China every day, which is again 1% to 1.5% of the total number of people arriving at Changi Airport every day – this is also less than 10% of the pre-COVID level,” the minister said.
He added that more than 60 per cent of these travelers from China were Singapore citizens, permanent residents and long-term pass holders.
Personal protective equipment (PPE) requirements for all passenger-facing and cleaning staff at Changi Airport have also been enhanced, according to the report.
“Throughout this process, our priority is to protect the health of our aviation workers, passengers and the wider community,” Iswaran said.
“Stakeholders in the Changi aviation community are also coming together to ensure that airport staff are well protected through timely and up-to-date vaccinations,” he said, noting that airport staff can also benefit from the new Raffles Medical Clinic. The facility vaccination booster is in Terminal 3.
“As of now, almost 100 per cent of workers are covered by the minimum protection prescribed by the Ministry of Health, and about half of the workers are up-to-date,” he said.
Iswaran further said that aviation authorities stand ready to react quickly should there be a major change in the health ministry’s risk assessment, such as the emergence of new variants of concern.
“As we emerge from COVID-19, this is the new normal for aviation,” he said.
(This is an unedited and auto-generated story from a Syndicated News feed, the content body may not have been modified or edited by LatestLY staff)
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