Hello, Internet! How is everyone doing? Is everyone keeping each other physically and mentally wellthrough Circuit Breaker Phase 2? In today’s entry, we will look deeper into Singapore’s air travel bubble partnership with Hong Kong (let’s add more salt to the wound).

Although the current status of the Hong Kong Air Travel Bubble is postponed for the second time, and hopefully the last, there is no harm in knowing a bit more about it to prepare ourselves for the relaunch anytime soon.

The Novel Coronavirus or COVID-19 turned the world upside down at different times for different nations across the globe, but what we all can agree is that 2020 was not the year we expected it to be. Nations were literally grounded. We can’t even visit our Johor Bahru neighbors!

The travel industry was one of the most badly impacted by the pandemic especially for countries that relied heavily on tourism as part of their economic growth. This is not just for Singapore, but tourism countries like Indonesia, China, Australia, New Zealand, and more were blindsided by this form of natural attack.

Singapore is one of the nations that flourished in tourism and in order to continue building its economy and allowing some sort of normalcy to the people here, the Government of Singapore introduced the Singapore Travel Bubble. The travel bubble initiated by Singapore involved partnerships with multiple countries including (but not limited to) Hong Kong, Malaysia, Indonesia, Australia, Germany, and more.

What separates the Hong Kong Air Travel Bubble from the rest of participating countries is that Hong Kong will be the first country that allows leisure travel. Besides the exemption of on-arrival quarantine and controlled itinerary submission, the Hong Kong Air Travel Bubble allows travel for the purpose of leisure.

That is one of the reasons why the Singapore-Hong Kong Air Travel Bubble is something all of us were anticipating and why it is such a big deal for us. But, COVID-19 had to steal the spotlight for the second time.

Initially, the travel bubble between Singapore and Hong Kong was supposed to start on 22nd November 2020. However, it was postponed on 1^st December 2020 after the rise of COVID-19 cases in Hong Kong.

On 26th April 2021, Singapore and Hong Kong have announced the official relaunch date for the travel bubble as both countries were able to sustain a low number of infections for quite a long period of time. The new date is set for 26th May 2021.

Then, things took a sharp turn on May 17th when the Government announced that Hong Kong Air Travel will be postponed for the second time. The revised date is yet to be disclosed. Open a bottle for COVID-19, y’all! Here’s to Circuit Breaker Phase 2, cheers!

Subscribe to our newsletter and social media to get new updates on the status. We will keep updating new information regarding the Hong Kong Air Travel Bubble in this article and our social channels.

As of the latest news, the Hong Kong Air Travel Bubble remained open to all residents of Singapore, be it permanent residents or those under specific visas. However, a person or persons with a Singapore work permit or S-Pass holders who work in the marine shipyard, process sectors, or construction sector is excluded from traveling to Hong Kong under the travel bubble.

Even though the Hong Kong Air Travel Bubble arrangements seemed more relax and pretty much free-to-roam kind of thing; both countries still implement strict regulations and mandatory COVID-19 testing for departing and returning travelers of both countries. So, it is still a free-to-roam kind of travel but in a safe manner.

Up until the day of this publishing, vaccination is not a mandatory requirement to be eligible for the air travel bubble. This means those who are not vaccinated can still go to Hong Kong/Singapore permitted they follow the preliminary requirements, such as COVID-19 testing, no travel history to other countries for the past 14 days, record tracing via an app, and many more.

You can read further on another article we have prepared specifically on Hong Kong Air Travel Bubble travel requirements and regulationswhere you will be able to know what to prepare for your future air travel bubble journey.

Travelers also need to download and install Hong Kong’s LeaveHomeSafe before they visit Hong Kong. The app is important as it will keep track of your visit their trip history throughout their time in Hong Kong.

Hong Kong Air Travel Bubble travelers must be healthy and required to take a pre-departure COVID-19 PCR test within 72 hours before the scheduled departure time and must receive a negative test result.

Let’s pretend we are in a parallel universe where Hong Kong Air Travel Bubble is a reality.

There will be specific airlines and flight schedules arranged solely for this purpose. As of recently, Singapore Airlines and Cathay Pacific were the two airlines that allocated their aircraft for Hong Kong Air Travel Bubble travelers.

Their designated aircraft are specifically for passengers under the air travel bubble agreement. Transit is not allowed onboard these flights. Each flight will be allocated to transport up to 200 passengers per route. These flights only provide direct flight routes to maintain the safety of both the travelers and the countries involved.

Safety precaution while travelers are on board both planes is still upheld and passengers are mandated to follow these regulations to a tee. The airlines have every right to kick you off the plane if you couldn’t follow the safety measures implemented. Let’s not ruin the party for everyone, shall we?

Things are tough for us and the battle is not over yet, but we have to be hopeful that we will come out of this storm in a brand new light. We are not just talking about the pandemic, but us as a product as well. Traveloka and other online travel booking platforms were not invincible from the hit and we are adapting and improving our online booking platforms (link to Flight homepage) to grow and assist you better in your travels. Don’t drop out of the journey with us just yet, because we have so many things in store for you once the border is open again.

Subscribe to our newsletter and bookmark our travel regulation series to your favorite destinations. This is just one of many more resources we plan to provide to our readers so that when the Hong Kong Air Travel Bubble or the rest of the travel bubble countries are open again, you will be ready to pack your bags and fly.