Transit passenger news

[reader]

One of the issues affecting foreigners seeking to get back to Thailand as soon as feasible is the "transit" status of connecting airports. Scanning through today's news came up with some information on Singapore and Hong Kong airports. However, the reports about both Singapore and Hong Kong are sketchy on details and it's uncertain if the new rules announced by Beijing will affect transit passenger traffic in Hong Kong.

SINGAPORE

From Reuters

Singapore, a regional travel and tourism hub, will gradually allow travellers to transit through its Changi Airport from June 2, the city-state's aviation regulator said on Wednesday.

Currently, foreign passengers may only transit through Singapore if they are on repatriation flights arranged by their governments. In March, visitors were banned from entering or transiting through the city-state to help combat the COVID-19 pandemic.

"This is part of Singapore's strategy to gradually re-open air transport to meet the needs of our economy and our people, whilst ensuring sufficient safeguards for safe travel," the Civil Aviation Authority of Singapore said.

It said airlines should submit their proposals for transfer lanes, which will be evaluated taking into account aviation safety, public health considerations, as well as the health of passengers and air crew.

Changi Airport, among the world's busiest last year, recorded 25,200 passenger movements in April, crashing 99.5% from the year ago.

 

HONG KONG

From South China Morning Post

Transit through Hong Kong International Airport (HKIA) to and from mainland China will not be allowed in the first phase of opening up transfer travel in the city from June 1 as

coronavirus measures are eased. Cathay Pacificconfirmed the restrictions after two sources said transport officials in Hong Kong had instructed the firm and

Hong Kong Airlines that they could not fly transit passengers to the mainland in a meeting with company representatives earlier this week.

“In this first phase, transiting to and from destinations in mainland China is not available,” Cathay said on its website.

According to a third source at the meeting, officials explained that they did not want to overwhelm transit facilities, citing the need to slowly build up the airport’s capability otherwise it could not cope. China currently has the highest demand for air travel anywhere in the world.

The Hong Kong administration earlier announced that transiting would be allowed at the airport starting from June, a move to relax travel restrictions imposed to combat the Covid-19 pandemic. But no details had been unveiled.

“Airlines have the utmost responsibilities in ensuring, at the point of check-in at the origin ports that the transit passengers will be accepted at the final destinations. It is the responsibility of the airlines to conduct all necessary verification at the origin ports,” the Airport Authority Hong Kong (AAHK) told carriers in a briefing on Friday.

Airlines said they had been hit with a raft of other restrictions on transit passengers too.

As part of HKIA opening up, any transit passengers with tickets sold before May 29 would not be accepted for travel, according to instructions from the AAHK, which runs the Asian megahub.

Tickets could only be sold on the same booking by the same airline groups, such as Cathay Pacific and Cathay Dragon, but interline or code-share arrangements involving a foreign airline connecting onto a Cathay or Hong Kong Airlines service was not permitted.

Also, passengers who have stopovers of more than eight hours in Hong Kong will not be permitted to travel, with the AAHK hoping to avoid the risk of contact and transmission of Covid-19 among passengers.