Singapore Airlines is pressing for the process of the proposed travel bubble with Australia to be agreed upon and is urging governments to adopt the IATA digital Travel Pass to streamline wait times for passengers.
Singapore Airlines new Regional VP of South-West Pacific Louis Arul told Airline Ratings that the travel bubble is not a matter of when but how.
“We have been obviously quite keen to push the idea of a Singapore-Australia bubble but the narrative that everyone talks about is when is it going to happen?”
“For our part, we think the more important question is how can it happen and how can we make it happen,” said Mr Arul.
“We want to try to understand what the authorities’ concerns are so that we can take these into consideration because until you start the discussion, you will not really be able to deal with all the issues that may be of concern.”
Mr. Arul said that the New Zealand – Australia bubble is obviously one model, but that is quite different from what a Singapore-Australia bubble may look like.
For instance, Mr Arul explains the Trans-Tasman bubble doesn’t require any testing, doesn’t require any verification of vaccination status whereas Singapore requires Australians and New Zealanders to have a COVID test on arrival and stay in their hotel untill the result is returned which takes typically 6 hours.
And mask-wearing is mandatory in Singapore.
“The governments need to agree to the protocols and how does the airline verify those tests and how do we verify that the passenger is fit to fly.”
Mr Arul urges that government’s need to agree and endorse the International Air Transport Association’s Travel Pass to eliminate unacceptable processing delays.
“A lot of work has gone into this IATA Air Travel Pass and you can download an app and digitally confirm that you are vaccinated, or that you have got a negative COVID test.”
“Currently using paper documents, it takes up to 12 minutes to process a passenger for check-in which is not going to be feasible under any form of bubble, or travel zone.”
Mr Arul said that Singapore Airlines had trialed the IATA Travel Pass on some routes and the results were pleasing with it working well.
What is needed says Mr. Arul is for governments to issue vaccination certificates in a digital form.
“I understand Australia is already looking at a system to do this and Singapore already issues digital vaccination certificates.”
The airline’s operations are being underpinned by cargo with it operating between two and four flights a day into Perth with both inbound and outbound cargo.
In most cases, the cargo is carried in the belly holds which on the Singapore Airlines 787-10 adds up to 50 tons.
“Our cargo load factor is between 90 and 100 percent while passenger was just 14 percent system-wide in May,” said Mr. Arul.
Into Australia, Mr. Arul says that the quota system is working quite well.
“I must say, overall, it is well managed and we have a very good working relationship with the health and border force officials.”
Globally the airline is seeing growth on its non-stop flights to the US and London is a better performer.
“Our New York non-stop is doing reasonably well as quite a good number of passengers are traveling with that flight.
“Because the US is well ahead in its vaccination program, there’s more confidence in travel to and from the US.”
Mr. Arul cautions that it’s a challenging road ahead for travel because of all the differing requirements across the globe.
“We have to start doing something now and discussed how we want to begin the process of border opening because until we start, we will not learn and we need to learn and move forward.
“Ideally, we would like ICAO and WHO to have a standardized model everywhere that anyone can adopt, but obviously that hasn’t happened and isn’t going to happen so we will need to do this on a bilateral basis.”
“Over the last 18 months, we have become quite adept at managing this and compliant with a myriad of rules, and regulations, and requirements that every country has imposed on all of us.”
“One thing that will be required if we wish to enable more international travel is a digital solution to verify a passenger’s health status.”
“We need to evolve faster than a virus but right now the virus is evolving much faster than we can handle. We do have the technology. We do have the knowledge. We do have over 18 months of data that we can use to beat the virus.”
