Singapore—In an interview with CNBC’s Squawk Box Asia on Monday (Oct 12), Minister for Transport Ong Ye Kung underlined the importance of creating travel bubbles with ‘safe countries’ to revive the badly-hit aviation sector.
And while he admitted that the development of a vaccine is vital in restoring travel to pre-Covid levels, questions remain as to when a vaccine will be made available and how effective it will be.
“The bottom line is this,” he said. “We can’t wait around for a vaccine. The aviation industry, critical to so many economies, particularly a small one like Singapore where you need all these connections in order to be economically viable, can’t wait around for a vaccine. We’ve got to start doing something. Active steps.
And the fact is that we can open up safely because there are countries, regions, that kept the epidemic under control, and testing is no longer a constraint.”
Mr Ong discussed the current situation facing the aviation sector, saying that while ‘green lanes’ keep essential businesses going, these are quite restrictive, as permission is needed to be obtained for air travel, as well as a rigorous testing protocol, and only have limited itineraries.
These green lanes would “in no way” revive the aviation sector, the Transport Minister added.
But what is needed now are travel bubbles with safe countries and regions, where general travel can happen.
Full story: https://www.msn.com/en-sg/news/singa...v72?li=BBr8Cnr
