Commentary: Omicron and travel restrictions – uncertain environment is destroying passenger confidence

These 24 nations accounted for over half of Changi Airport passenger site visitors previous to the pandemic.The current launch of VTLs with Australia, India, Indonesia and Malaysia was significantly vital. These have been among the many 5 largest markets for Changi and the Singapore Airlines (SIA) Group previous to COVID, leaving China as the one remaining white spot.SIA at the moment has just a few weekly flights to China, carrying solely important site visitors.Australia, Indonesia and Malaysia have been served all through the pandemic whereas SIA was lastly in a position to resume scheduled providers to India on Nov 29 for the primary time since March 2020, shortly mounting 51 weekly flights together with 21 VTL frequencies.Earlier VTLs targeted totally on long-haul markets in Europe and North America, which account for a comparatively small share of Singapore’s pre-pandemic passenger site visitors, regardless of being economically necessary.The VTL scheme, which has expanded quickly since beginning with solely two nations in September, efficiently kickstarted a restoration of the Changi hub, significantly the outbound phase (consisting of Singapore residents travelling abroad).