Singapore mulls over launch of air travel bubble with China's Hong Kong

SINGAPORE, March 29 (Xinhua) -- Singapore's Minister for Transport Ong Ye Kung said Monday that the city-state has received a proposal from China's Hong Kong Special Administrative Region (HKSAR) to re-open borders safely, saying it is studying the situation.

According to a press release in response to comments from the HKSAR on the Singapore-Hong Kong Air Travel Bubble (ATB), the minister said that Singapore is very happy that Hong Kong has in recent weeks kept the pandemic under good control.

"This is a very positive development," he added.

Singapore and Hong Kong agreed to launch designated flights under the ATB in November 2020 in an effort to resume cross-border travel and orderly restart economic activities. But the launch of the ATB was later deferred due to worsened epidemic situation in Hong Kong.