Initial ‘bubble’ will be focused on allowing vaccinated students and business visitors to travel freely between the two countries.
Australia has flagged that a travel bubble with Singapore could be sealed “in the next week or two”.
Australian states New South Wales and Victoria have already scrapped
their mandatory hotel quarantine from 1 November after meeting
vaccination targets.
Singapore reopened its borders slightly earlier, welcoming the first
travellers from Amsterdam and London under vaccinated travel lanes on
Wednesday, 21 October.
Speaking alongside Qantas boss Alan Joyce at a ceremony to mark an
announcement that the national carrier will restart flights to many
international destinations, Prime Minister Scott Morrison said Australia
is in the final stages of negotiation with Singaporean authorities.
Initially, the ‘bubble’ will be focused on allowing vaccinated
students and business visitors to travel freely between the two
countries.
Joyce said, “Australians rolling up their sleeves means our planes
and our people are getting back to work much earlier than we expected.”
In a Facebook post, Singapore Prime Minister Lee Hsien Loong welcomed
the progress on establishing the travel bubble with Australia which has
been discussed by authorities in both countries since June.
On the same day, Singapore Airlines launched tickets on its 14-weekly
flights between Singapore and Melbourne for eligible customers from 22
October 2021, 8pm (AEDT).
As for Qantas, the carrier is set to launch a new route from Sydney
to Delhi on 6 December while bringing forward plans for flights to
Singapore, Fiji, Johannesburg, Bangkok and Phuket.
The national carrier will also bring back two of its Airbus A380
aircraft earlier than planned and is in discussions with Boeing about
accelerating the delivery of three new 787 Dreamliners, which have been
in storage for most of the pandemic.
All Australian-based Qantas and Jetstar employees will be able to return to work on 2 December.
Source: Travel Weekly Asia