Tuesday, November 16, 2021

In talks with India for partial resumption of flights, says Singapore

New Delhi: A day after including India among countries on its Vaccinated Travel Lanes (VTL) programme, Singaporean officials say the benefits of quarantine-free entry may not be available for Indians taking Air India’s Vande Bharat flights, unless ongoing talks on a special bilateral arrangement result in an agreement.

In a detailed document on Frequently Asked Questions on VTL, Singapore has said only commercial scheduled passenger flights are eligible to be designated as VTL flights and since the Vande Bharat Mission flights are government charter relief flights, they are not eligible. India has thus far not reopened regular international travel and has restricted flights to only those from 28 countries that have negotiated an “air travel bubble” system with the Government, that don’t include Singapore.

“As Vande Bharat Mission flights are chartered repatriation flights , they are not eligible to be designated as Vaccinated Travel Lanes (VTL) flights,” the statement released said, adding that negotiations with the Ministry of Civil Aviation are under way to work out a compromise that would allow a ‘partial’ restoration of international flights for Singapore as a ‘temporary’ measure.

In a separate statement on Tuesday, Singapore International Airlines on Tuesday asked passengers to be ‘patient’ while the negotiations were concluded.

“We remain guided by the authorities on our passenger services to and from India, and seek our customers’ patience and understanding while bilateral air travel arrangements are being finalised.”

As a result, travel agents say Vande Bharat passengers to Singapore will still have to undergo a 15-day quarantine, and those hoping to avail the quarantine-free flights still have a wait ahead of them. There are 74 Vande Bharat flights of Air India planned between November 18 to March 26 as per the latest schedule.

According to its Government notification, Singapore decided to open the VTL system for Indians on November 29, along with countries like Finland, Indonesia, Malaysia and Sweden, adding to about a dozen countries that already send travellers there without quarantine requirements.

16/11/21 Jagriti Chandra, Suhasini Haidar/The Hindu


To Read the News in full at Source, Click the Headline

0 comments:

Post a Comment