Remarks by Minister for Transport, S Iswaran on Vaccinated Travel Lanes at MTF Press Conference

Preamble

1.     We started the Vaccinated Travel Lanes (VTLs) in September last year as a pathfinder to establish, test and build confidence in reopening safely to vaccinated travellers. 

2.     We made steady progress but had to take a pause due to Omicron. 

a.     In late November, when Omicron was first reported, we tightened our border measures to limit our exposure, gain a better understanding of the new variant, and get more people boosted. 

b.     These measures included deferring the launch of some VTLs and limiting the daily number of VTL travellers. 

3.     Now that we have greater certainty over the nature of Omicron and the associated public health risks, it is important that we pivot our travel posture and resume the safe reopening of our borders, and reclaim our position as a global business and aviation hub.   

4.     Let me now outline our next steps. 

VTL (Air)

5.     We start with the air VTLs. 

6.     We announced on 26 November last year that we would increase the daily VTL travellers capacity to 15,000. 

7.     Due to Omicron-related curtailments, the daily number of VTL travellers currently stands at 5,000.  We are now ready to take steps to restore the flow of travellers.

8.     With immediate effect, we will lift the 50% cap on the daily number of VTL travellers. In other words, we will be able to restore the VTL quotas to the original levels that were announced before the Omicron-related curtailments.

9.     We will also continue to expand quarantine-free travel for vaccinated travellers from other parts of the world.

10.    Let me start with the Middle East.

a.     We will proceed with the launch of the VTLs to Qatar, Saudi Arabia and the United Arab Emirates (UAE), which were VTLs we had deferred earlier as part of the Omicron-related curtailments. 

b.     We will also extend this to Israel, to further rebuild our connections with the region. 

11.    Within ASEAN, we will deepen and extend VTLs with Malaysia, Indonesia, Thailand, and the Philippines.

a.     We had commenced the VTL by air with Malaysia from 29 November last year, starting with Kuala Lumpur.  We are in advanced discussions to expand the VTLs to Penang and Kota Kinabalu.  We look forward to launching these soon. 

b.     We had also launched a unilateral VTL by air with Indonesia from 29 November last year, with two daily designated services from Jakarta. We are in discussions to do more with Indonesia. And meanwhile, we will also be launching a VTL (Sea) with Bintan and Batam, which I will elaborate on later. 

c.     For Thailand, we had started the VTL with flights from Bangkok from 14 December 2021. We will now expand the VTL to include all cities in Thailand. 

d.     The Philippines has recently reopened its borders to vaccinated travellers from Singapore.  We are establishing a new VTL to the Philippines as well.

e.     For both Thailand and the Philippines, with the VTLs, we will restore two-way quarantine-free travel for vaccinated travellers.

12.    These planned moves with Malaysia, Indonesia, Thailand and the Philippines will strengthen our air connectivity with our immediate neighbours, which is key to Changi’s position as an aviation hub. 

13.    For Europe, we have 11 VTLs today.  We are studying how we can enhance this network and will announce more details in due course. 

14.    We will cease the current unilateral opening with Hong Kong as the Ministry of Health has reviewed the public health situation and reclassified Hong Kong in Category II/III. With this classification by Ministry of Health, our intention is and we will establish a unilateral Vaccinated Travel Lane with Hong Kong. Our aim here is to maintain air connectivity between our two cities. 

15.    CAAS will provide further details on all these moves.

Launch of VTL (Sea) 

16.    I will now update on our plans to restart cross-border travel by sea with Indonesia. 

17.    Indonesia has resumed tourism travel from Singapore to Bintan and Batam. Specifically, fully vaccinated travellers from Singapore can travel under Indonesia’s travel bubbles to the Nongsa Sensation and Lagoi Bintan Resort areas without quarantine. 

18.    To facilitate bi-directional quarantine-free travel, we will launch our first VTL (Sea) with Bintan and Batam. 

a.     Similar to VTL (Air), vaccinated travellers from both islands will be able to enter Singapore and will not be subject to a Stay-Home Notice (SHN).

b.     Short-term visitors from Indonesia need to apply for a Vaccinated Travel Pass and meet all the prerequisites.  

c.     Designated ferries will provide services between the Bandar Bintan Telani Ferry Terminal in Bintan or the Nongsapura International Ferry Terminal in Batam, with Singapore’s Tanah Merah Ferry Terminal.

d.     We will commence with a weekly quota of 700 travellers – 350 each from Bintan and Batam.

19.    We will start VTP applications for VTL (Sea) on 22 February 2022, and commence the VTL (Sea) from Bintan and Batam from 25 February.

20.    MPA will provide further details.

Conclusion

21.    Let me reiterate the context of all these moves and set them in context. As we learn to live with COVID-19 and Omicron, it is essential that we progressively open our air and sea borders. 

a.     These steps will restore and expand our VTLs, and put our border re-opening back on track. 

b.     They will enable us to carefully restore our connectivity, especially our regional neighbours. The connectivity with them is specifically important for our hub and we want to do all of this while safeguarding public health.

22.    Our ultimate goal is quarantine-free travel for all vaccinated travellers.

23.    As we welcome more travellers, our airport and ferry terminals are working hard to ramp up their capacity to serve travellers safely and efficiently. 

a.     One key factor is the testing requirement.  MOH has just announced the shifting of on-arrival testing to supervised self-swab Antigen Rapid Tests. This will ease operational flows at both the airport and ferry terminal, and allow us to scale up to accommodate more travellers. 

b.     Our aviation sector companies are also progressively recalling their workers as well as hiring new manpower to be well prepared. This may take some time. 

24.    I seek the understanding and support of all Singaporeans and travellers as our aviation community and frontline workers scale up and make the necessary operational adjustments to ensure a smooth travel experience.