Fully-vaccinated travellers from Indonesia will be able to enter Singapore on VTL flights from Nov 29th.

VTLs with 5 more countries including Indonesia, India; Malaysia land links reopening soon

UPDATED Tue, Nov 16, 2021 - 8:04 AM
Tay Peck Gekpeckgek@sph.com.sg@PeckGekBT
People are seen at Ngurah Rai International Airport ahead of the reopening of Indonesia's resort island of Bali to international flights in mid-October, following border closures brought about by the pandemic in this photo taken by Antara Foto.
 
SINGAPORE will expand the quarantine-free vaccinated travel lanes (VTLs) to Indonesia, India and three Middle East countries, while a “vaccinated travel lane-like arrangement” for the land border with Malaysia could reopen in a matter of weeks.

Fully-vaccinated travellers from Indonesia will be able to enter Singapore on VTL flights from Nov 29, while there are plans to launch a VTL with India for entry into Singapore from that same date. 

Those from Qatar, Saudi Arabia and the United Arab Emirates (UAE) can fly in to Singapore from Dec 6.

Vaccinated travel passes (VTPs) for short-term visitors and long-term pass holders will be open for application for travelling from India and Indonesia on Nov 22, and to travellers from Qatar, Saudi Arabia and the UAE from Nov 29 under the VTL.

The additional VTL countries mean that the overall daily quota of arrivals via the VTL scheme will go up to 10,000, from 6,000 currently.

Speaking at a press conference by the multi-ministry task force on Covi 19 on Monday (Nov 15), Transport Minister S Iswaran stated: “This is about 13 per cent of the total daily arrivals at Changi pre-Covid. Pre-Covid, the 21 countries with whom we have VTLs contributed to just under 50 per cent of the total daily arrivals at Changi. Our VTL quotas amount to about one-quarter of the total pre-Covid flows from these countries.”


 


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India and Indonesia were among the top 5 markets for passenger arrivals at Changi Airport, accounting for 7 per cent and 10 per cent of passenger arrivals respectively at Changi Airport pre-pandemic.

Singapore is the top foreign investor in Indonesia, across various sectors including manufacturing, energy and logistics. 

The reopening to visitors from Indonesia comes just days after Singapore upgraded the country to Category 2 of the Ministry of Health’s (MOH) classification for border measures.

Hence, Iswaran expressed hope that travellers from Singapore will also be able to enter Indonesia soon, as the city-state is not among the countries that Indonesia has reopened its borders to, since mid-October.

India has recently begun to recognise vaccination certificates issued by Singapore. With this, fully vaccinated travellers from Singapore entering India will no longer need to undergo post-arrival tests or home quarantine, and are only required to self-monitor for 14 days after arrival.

Currently, government-chartered relief flights are the only ones from Singapore permitted to carry passengers to India. However, by Nov 29, there might be 2 daily VTL flights each from Chennai, Delhi and Mumbai.

As for VTLs extended to the 3 Middle East countries, Iswaran pointed out that it is essential that Singapore re-establishes connectivity with them, given that ST Engineering, Sembcorp, DBS and some 400 Singapore companies are based in the UAE alone.

He noted that Middle East entities also have a significant presence here, leveraging Singapore as a hub for South-east Asia. “Collectively, we aim to have 3 to 4 daily VTL flights with these countries,” he said.

Closer to home, task force co-chair and Trade and Industry Minister Gan Kim Yong said at the same press conference that discussions with Malaysia are progressing well on the reopening of the Causeway and the Tuas Second Link land borders. “We are working to launch this soon, hopefully in a few weeks’ time,” he said, without giving further details.

Last week, Singapore and Malaysia announced a VTL between Changi Airport and Kuala Lumpur International Airport for air travellers, which will be launched on Nov 29. This VTL will start with 6 designated flights per day.

Separately, Iswaran addressed the removal of Singapore by the Council of the European Union from a list of countries for which travel restrictions should be relaxed and the US raising its travel advisory on Singapore.

He stated that some countries including Singapore do review and adjust border measures based on circumstances in other countries.

“Careful and calibrated reopening of our borders also means being prepared to make necessary adjustments to, and even curtail, the VTL arrangements if warranted by the public risk assessment,” he said.

Currently, Indonesia, Qatar, Saudi Arabia and the UAE, are in Category 2 of the MOH’s classification for border measures, which mean they have similar or lower Covid-19 incidence rates than Singapore and the other VTL countries. India will be recategorised to that level on Nov 19.

The Civil Aviation Authority of Singapore has issued 45,830 VTPs for visitors from 13 VTL countries as at Nov 14, for travelling to Singapore between Sep 8 and Jan 19, 2022. As of that same date, 24,070 VTL travellers – including 9,595 Singaporeans and permanent residents – have entered Singapore.