Remarks by Permanent Secretary for Transport Mr Loh Ngai Seng at the G20 Aviation Dialogue, Session 1 On Progress on Global Action for Aviation Recovery

Mr Salvatore Sciacchitano, President of the Council of ICAO,
Mr Conrad Clifford, Deputy Director General and Senior Vice-President of IATA,
Mr Novie Riyanto Rahardjo, Secretary-General of the Ministry of Transportation, Republic of Indonesia,
Mr Mohamed Khalifa Rahma, Director of Air Transport Bureau of ICAO,
Mr Ma Tao, Regional Director of ICAO APAC,
Distinguished Guests,
Ladies and Gentlemen,

1.     Thank you for inviting me to this morning’s G20 Aviation Dialogue, and to our Indonesian friends for your warm hospitality over the past few days. I’ve just returned at midnight yesterday from Bali after a series of ASEAN Transport Ministers meetings and I’d like to thank once again Secretary-General Novie for his warm hospitality and for hosting this useful platform this morning for the exchange of views. It is a timely juncture for us to take stock of what has gone well, and to set out what we must do individually and collectively as States, global aviation organisations, and industry to secure the recovery of air travel and build a strong runway for future growth.

Working Together for Aviation Recovery

2.     In the six months since Singapore re-opened its borders to all fully-vaccinated travellers since April this year, air travel has recovered steadily. The number of flights at Changi Airport has recovered to nearly two-thirds of pre-COVID-19 levels, and we expect further recovery to above 80% of pre-pandemic flight volumes by the end of the year. Passenger volumes have also grown healthily, to around 60% of pre-COVID volumes in September, just last month.

3.     This strong recovery was possible because other countries in our region, including Indonesia, Malaysia, and South Korea, had also removed testing and quarantine requirements around the same time Singapore did. More recently, Hong Kong, Japan and Taiwan have relaxed their border restrictions, especially for vaccinated travellers. This will further spur the recovery of air travel in the Asia-Pacific region, especially over the upcoming Northern Winter travel season.

4.     Notwithstanding this, we must be prepared that the COVID-19 situation can change suddenly. The past two years have reinforced the need for bilateral and multilateral platforms to facilitate the exchange of information, as well as to coordinate our responses to the pandemic. We should continue to maintain platforms like the ASEAN Health Ministers and Transport Ministers Meetings amidst the evolving COVID-19 situation. We should also continue to set up mechanisms for the exchange of health-related information, to facilitate safe cross-border travel and enable better harmonisation of our respective border measures. One example is the Digital Documentation of COVID-19 Certificates being developed by the World Health Organisation with the support of the G20 countries. This will pave the way for a globally interoperable digital verification system for the various COVID-19 certificate standards available today.  

Capacity and Confidence

5.     As air travel recovers, we must also restore traveller confidence by rebuilding capacity and capabilities for safe and seamless travel. 

6.     Many airports around the world have struggled to ramp up their operations and manpower to cope with the demand for travel as borders reopened. As many of us will appreciate, such capacity challenges can have a severe knock-on impact on the entire aviation ecosystem. For example, mishandled baggage will have downstream implications on destination airports, which will then have to dedicate more resources to sort out baggage for passengers. Flights that depart late will in turn cause terminal congestion at destination airports due to flight bunching. A sudden cancellation of flights or missing bags will mar the passenger experience and undermine traveller confidence to fly.

7.     This is not a problem that can be solved individually by only the airports, the airlines, or the ground handlers. To gear up for recovery, all stakeholders in the entire aviation value chain must work hand in hand to build up their respective capacities and capabilities. This will enable us to create positive travel experiences and restore people’s confidence to travel.

8.     Now, beyond the immediate recovery, there is good reason to be optimistic about the longer-term prospects for aviation growth in the Asia-Pacific, driven by the growth of economies and a fast-growing middle class in Southeast Asia and South Asia. 

9.     To fully tap on the potential of air travel in the region, and also to maximise the economic benefits for our respective peoples, it is important that we focus on three key priorities – first, to ensure safety as air traffic continues to grow; second, to enable our carriers to strengthen air links; and third, to decarbonise air travel.  

Upholding Safety and Efficiency of Aviation 

10.    Let me touch on each of these key priorities.

11.    First, as demand for air travel increases and skies get busier in our region, aviation safety must remain our top priority. COVID-19 has presented unprecedented challenges for aviation safety, such as the lack of familiarity with protocols, and the airworthiness of aircraft under storage. Across the board, we should strengthen the safety regime and uplift overall standards, to soar safely together.  

12.    One such area that we need to work closely together to ensure safety as air traffic grows is air traffic management and air navigation arrangements, which are cross-boundary in nature. We must work together to ensure that the regional air navigation arrangements continue to uphold the safety and efficiency of civil aviation. It is this shared and common commitment that underpins the efforts between Singapore and our regional partners to enable more harmonised and interoperable procedures and operations, such as those under the ASEAN Air Navigation Services Master Plan and ICAO Asia Pacific Seamless Air Navigation Services Plan. Such regional cooperation in air traffic management will enhance safety and efficiency, and help reduce carbon emission in our increasingly crowded skies.

Keeping Open Skies 

13.    Secondly, to enable our carriers to enhance connectivity within and beyond the region, we should continue to adopt a liberal aviation policy through bilateral and multilateral Open Skies Agreements (OSA), to give airlines the flexibility to respond to market opportunities. In this regard, the signing of the ASEAN-EU Comprehensive Air Transport Agreement, the world’s first bloc-to-bloc air services agreement, is an important milestone in strengthening connectivity and promoting economic development between ASEAN and the EU. 

Decarbonising Air Travel

14.    Third, we must take decisive action to decarbonise air travel. Each of us must continue to invest in global and regional efforts for sustainable air travel. Singapore has strived to do so on multiple fronts. Most recently, on the sidelines of the 41st ICAO Assembly, we signed a Memorandum of Cooperation (MOC) on sustainable aviation with the United States of America, and a Memorandum of Understanding (MOU) with the United Kingdom to update our Open Skies Agreement as well as affirm both countries’ commitment to sustainable aviation. In April this year, we also signed a Memorandum of Arrangement on this topic with New Zealand. 

15.    And of course, at the recently concluded ASEAN Transport Ministers meetings over the last few days, I have also, together with my Minister, engaged our ASEAN Ministerial counterparts to ensure that sustainable aviation remains one of the top priorities for the coming years on the ASEAN agenda.

16.    I would like to thank ICAO for your leadership in building global consensus on the importance of sustainable aviation, especially in light of the successful outcomes of CORSIA’s periodic review and the Long-Term Aspirational Goal (LTAG) at the ICAO Assembly.  In particular, the establishment of a ‘Net-zero 2050’ Long Term Aspirational Goal is a historic moment for the aviation sector, which will provide important direction and create certainty for the industry and investors. I am also very glad that key stakeholders such as the IATA and Airports Council International (ACI), have committed to their own targets to reduce the sector’s carbon footprint.

Growing Manpower Capabilities

17.    Finally, we must not only create the capacity for recovery and growth, but also the capabilities to do so. It is therefore equally important that we grow our aviation workforce, and equip them with the knowledge and skillsets to innovate, seize new opportunities and adapt to disruptions. These are the very people, our workers, who will help rebuild air travel, keep our skies safe, enhance and expand our air links, and realise our ambition to decarbonise air travel. Only and only by investing in and growing our pool of aviation professionals will we be able to bring to fruition our shared vision of a more efficient, sustainable, and resilient aviation ecosystem. 

18.    Thank you for your kind attention.