Singapore Relaxes Border Restrictions for Travellers

The city-state will reopen its borders to fully vaccinated travelers from certain countries and is removing stay-home requirements for short-term visitors from several countries.

Fully vaccinated travelers from Germany and Brunei will be able to come to Singapore without serving a stay-home notice, under a new Vaccinated Travel Lane arrangement announced on Thursday.

At the same time, all travelers from Hong Kong and Macau, Mainland China, New Zealand and Taiwan, regardless of vaccination status, can enter without serving a stay-home notice, the Civil Aviation Authority of Singapore (CAAS) said.

Vaccinated Travel Lane visitors will have to meet a set of criteria that includes taking designated flights that serve only vaccinated travelers, not transiting elsewhere, and undergoing PCR tests while in Singapore. Those who arrive on flights not under the Vaccinated Travel Lane will be subject to prevailing quarantine measures upon arrival, CAAS said.

In response to the relaxed border measures, Singapore Airlines will operate five weekly Vaccinated Travel Lane flights from Frankfurt and Munich beginning September 7.

Lufthansa, will also increase its flights to Singapore to three weekly, up from one currently – two of these will be for the designated Vaccinated Travel Lane.

Separately, the Ministry of Transport announced that Singapore and Hong Kong have agreed not to pursue further discussions on the air travel bubble, owing to differences between the two cities in their strategy for managing the Covid-19 pandemic.

«Both parties agreed that it would not be possible to launch or sustain the air travel bubble in its present form,» the announcement said.