There was a period of time when I liked to go to Changi Beach in the evenings and stayed till 9.00pm. Besides enjoying the sea breeze and the space, I enjoyed watching the passenger aircrafts descending towards our world's popular Changi International airport. With the high volume of air traffic, the planes kept streaming in at a very rapid intervals and queuing at the air landing path, especially from 7.30pm to 9.00pm,
I could see the plane lights' blinking from far while each plane waited for its queue. As one by one moved into the path, the landing lights shone onto the sea waters and created beautiful theatre-feel scenes. Where I was seated, I was thrilled to see the many planes' 'bellies' passing above me within the short relaxing time.
The Covid-19 pandemic has changed the air travel drastically with many travel restrictions imposed by different countries. Singapore's air traffic has also suffered big impact for the last 1.5 years. Needless to say, what I saw at the beach seemed to be lost.
The good news is that we can look forward to the recovery (slow) of Singapore's air traffic with the 2 travel schemes implemented and materialising :
1) Vaccinated Travel Lane (VTL)
Singapore is in partnership with Germany and Brunei to roll out Vaccinated Travel Lane from 08 Sep 2021. VTL allows travelers to be exempted from Stay Home Notice (SHN) when the terms and conditions are fulfilled. Some of them are :
i) Non local (Singapore Citizens or PR) travelers must be fully vaccinated from the port of embarkation (Germany and Brunei)
ii) Travelers who fulfilled i) must undergo several tests COVID-19 Polymerase Chain Reaction (PCR) tests, in accordance to the stringent test schedule.
For local (Singapore citizens and permanent residents) travelers, as long as they produce proof of fully vaccinated records, be it administered in Singapore or in overseas, they can be exempted too.
Travelers will not be required to declare the purpose of traveling under VTL scheme.
2. Air Travel Pass (ATP) for Hong Kong and Macao travelers
Border restrictions have been lifted for all travel from Hong Kong and Macao from 20 Aug (for locals) and 26 Aug 2021 (for non-local) onwards. To enter into Singapore, they can apply for air travel pass (ATP). Under this scheme, they will need to complete the PCR test. With the negative result they can be exempted from the 7 days' SHN requirements.
For travelers under VTL or ATP, it is compulsory for them to stay within the country of embarkation for a minimum period of 21 days before they enter into Singapore.
Related link :
https://www.straitstimes.com/singapore/what-you-need-to-know-about-the-new-vaccinated-travel-lane-which-allows-travel-without
I believe that more travel schemes are in the pipeline with many countries achieving the targeted vaccinated rate and news of the upcoming vaccine boosters! I look forward to watching the busy air traffic, lighted sea waters and aircraft 'bellies' again, soon! Would you like to join me when the time comes?