Singapore and Hong Kong call off travel bubble announcement

Singapore and Hong Kong called off an announcement planned for Thursday on an air travel bubble between Asia’s two major financial hubs, according to people familiar with the matter, the second time in five months the highly anticipated arrangement appears to have run into obstacles. No reason was immediately provided on why the announcement -- which Bloomberg reported Wednesday was expected as soon as Thursday -- was postponed and a new date has not been set, said the people, who asked not to be identified as they’re not authorized to speak publicly. The cancellation was initiated by the Singapore side, one of the people said. Singapore’s Ministry of Transport and Hong Kong’s Commerce and Economic Development Bureau didn’t immediately respond to requests for comment. Singapore and Hong Kong have been working on trying to revive their bubble plans after a previously scheduled November start was shelved due to a virus flareup in Hong Kong. The new start date for the bubble was planned for May, people familiar have said, though that’s now uncertain. While it’s unclear what triggered the postponement of the announcement, it comes as Singapore faces new virus cases among its migrant worker community, which underpinned the city’s major outbreak last year.<br/>