Passengers’ hopes dashed as Hong Kong-Singapore air travel bubble put on hold after Covid-19 surge

The disappointment was palpable for the first passengers getting ready to fly between Hong Kong and Singapore under a quarantine-free air travel bubble after the scheme was put on hold for two weeks. The Hong Kong government announced the postponement on Saturday, after a surge in untraceable Covid-19 cases, in what is being seen as the city’s fourth wave of coronavirus. Commerce minister Edward Yau Tang-wah was non-committal about establishing a new launch date, which would depend on the infection picture improving. Cathay Pacific said it was “very sorry for this unexpected change” to flights. Hong Kong’s flag carrier was offering refunds, travel vouchers for future flights or a change to new flights to Singapore – which would still require quarantine. The airline said it planned to operate non-bubble flights on Tuesday, Thursday and Saturdays over the next two weeks. “Both governments were acting in the best interest of everyone,” said Subhas Menon, DG of the Association of Asia Pacific Airlines. He said the authorities had shown some consistency in sticking to the rules that established and guided the travel bubble. “We don’t want what happened in Europe and started [spreading the virus] after a few weeks, they had to U-turn and impose quarantine, go back to square one and there is no travel. We don’t want that to happen here,” he said. For Cathay and SIA, pushed deep into financial trouble by the ongoing Covid-19 chaos, the postponement was yet another blow. Neither airline has a domestic service and with borders closed, most of their international flights have been cancelled and planes grounded.<br/>