Malaysia Transport Minister hopes to announce 'air traffic bubble' with Singapore soon
SINGAPORE — Malaysia hopes to announce an air traffic bubble with Singapore and other bilateral partners soon, said its Transport Minister Wee Ka Siong.
In a post put up on his Facebook page on Tuesday (15 September), Dr Wee said that he received a courtesy call from Singapore High Commissioner to Malaysia Vanu Gopala Menon, and discussed issues needing attention in order for both countries to continue their “people-to-people exchanges” amid ongoing COVID-19 concerns.
“The closely-linked business communities on both sides urgently need to be able to commute back and forth soon, with stringent SOPs (standard operating procedures) in place,” he wrote in his post.
“Our health authorities will be speaking soon to iron out the agreements on the SOPs and move forward. We hope to announce an air traffic bubble soon with Singapore and other bilateral partners.”
Currently, Singapore and Malaysia have two types of cross-border travel schemes: the Reciprocal Green Lane for essential business travels, and Periodic Commuting Arrangement for Singapore and Malaysia residents who hold long-term immigration passes.
During the courtesy call, Dr Wee and Menon also provided updates on ongoing discussions for the Malaysia-Singapore High Speed Rail 2.0 project, ahead of the 31 December deadline to ink the bilateral agreement.
“The successful signing of the Johor Bahru-Woodlands RTS Link agreement on 30 July reflects a mutual commitment,” Dr Wee said in his Facebook post.
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