SINGAPORE, April 26 — Singapore and Hong Kong will start their travel bubble "cautiously” on May 26, with one flight a day in each direction, capped at 200 passengers on each flight for the first two weeks, Singapore’s Ministry of Transport (MOT) announced today.

These caps will be reviewed thereafter.

The air travel bubble arrangement, announced on November 11 last year but later postponed owing to a resurgence of coronavirus cases in Hong Kong, will allow all forms of travel without quarantine.

MOT said today that Singapore and Hong Kong have since reviewed the arrangements and made several improvements to the agreement. 

These include stricter conditions for the resumption of the travel bubble, should it be suspended owing to new Covid-19 community clusters in either city.

Flights to Hong Kong were originally scheduled to take off from Singapore under this travel arrangement on November 22 last year. 

But it was cancelled at the eleventh hour after Hong Kong was hit by a spike in Covid-19 cases. 

Since then, the Covid-19 situation in Hong Kong has improved, with few local virus cases in the past few weeks with no known origin. Community cases in Singapore have also remained low, said MOT. 

"The risk profiles of both cities are, therefore, now similar,” MOT added.

It added that both parties would closely monitor the Covid-19 situation from now to the targeted launch of the travel bubble on May 26 and proceed if the situation continues to be steady and under control in both cities.

Singapore’s Transport Minister Ong Ye Kung said he was happy that Hong Kong got the Covid-19 situation under control. 

"It has been a long few months, but the conditions are now ripe again to relaunch the air travel bubble. Both sides will need to stay very vigilant in the next one month, so that we can launch the first flight smoothly.” 

Edward Yau, Hong Kong’s secretary for commerce and economic development, said: "Our goal remains striking a right balance between public health and travel convenience, so that the public will feel assured while providing certainty.”

Last week, Singapore’s health ministry also said that the city-state would ease border restrictions for travellers from Hong Kong.

From 11.59pm on April 22, they will undergo a reduced seven-day stay-home notice, down from 14 days, which can be served at their place of residence if suitable. — TODAY