Singapore, Hong Kong to re-launch air travel bubble

Market: Oil products
26/04/21

Air travel bubble flights between Singapore and Hong Kong will begin on 26 May, a six-month delay from its initial plan of November 2020.

The first air travel bubble flights were scheduled to begin on 22 November but were postponed because of a rise in Covid-19 cases in Hong Kong.

The Covid-19 situation in Hong Kong has improved this year, with very few local unlinked Covid cases over the past few weeks. Community cases in Singapore have remained very low throughout the time. The two cities now have similar risk profiles.

The Singapore-Hong Kong air travel bubble will start with one flight a day in each direction, capped at 200 passengers on each flight for the first two weeks, with numbers subject to review thereafter, Singapore's Ministry of Transport said in a statement release on 26 April.

"The two governments have reached consensus on the latest arrangements and will put in place more stringent public health protocols in response to the latest epidemic development," HK's Secretary for Commerce and Economic Development Edward Yau said.

Singapore had mulled the establishment of such travel bubbles to revive its aviation industry, which have been harder-hit than other countries as it lacks a domestic travel sector. But such arrangements will have to be implemented across more countries in order for regional jet fuel demand to pick up significantly, said market participants.

Asia-Pacific jet fuel refining margins, or fob Singapore jet fuel swaps against Dubai crude values, exceeded a two-month high of $5.62/bl on 23 April, the highest since $5.81/bl on 19 February. Jet fuel refining margins fell into negative territory during April 2020 as the peak of the pandemic outbreak decimated global air travel.

By Yawen Lu

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