Just two days before Christmas, the Singapore government banned short-term visitors and transport passengers who were recently in the UK. The decision, which took effect on Wednesday 23 December at 11:59 in Singapore Standard Time, landed thousands of travelers abroad, with limited options to return home. Singapore Airlines now reports that it has received government approval to transport passengers from London Heathrow to Sydney and Auckland via its Singapore Changi center.
Government approval received
According to the Sydney Morning Herald, Singapore has lifted a ban on travelers departing from the UK via Changi Airport. It comes just over a week after the government decided to block anyone from the UK due to a new coronavirus strain detected in the country.
However, a Singapore Airlines spokesperson confirmed today that the government’s approval had been obtained to transport passengers. The airline can carry passengers from London’s Heathrow Airport to Sydney and Auckland via Singapore Changi Airport – with special restrictions.
Passengers stay on board
However, the approval to operate services such as London-Singapore-Sydney has special restrictions. Indeed, passengers connecting to Australia must stay on the plane while on the ground in Singapore. According to the Kiwi publication Stuff, this rule also applies to crossings to Auckland.
While forward-looking flight data is currently limited, we can see that this applies to a recent flight with the Singapore Airlines Airbus A350-900 registered 9V-SMU on 31 December with FlightRadar24.com.
- The plane departs for London at 10:20 as SQ317 to Singapore and lands in Singapore at 06:26 local time (January 1).
- After this 12-hour flight, passengers would have stayed aboard the plane as it became SQ281 with service to Auckland.
- The flight then departs about two and a half hours later, at 08:54, and lands at 23:04 local time in Auckland, for a 2nd-leg flight time of about 10 hours.
‘The health and safety of our staff and customers remains our top priority, and [Singapore Airlines] will continue to apply strict health and safety measures on the ground and in the air to ensure the well-being of our passengers and crew, ” Singapore Airlines spokesperson via Sydney Morning Herald
According to FlightRadar24.com, it also appears that these operations are already active. An A350, with registration 9V-SMM, has been flying from London to Singapore since 27 December.
This policy of staying in the plane would mean that passengers would stay on board for about 24 hours, it is quite the journey to be confined to an economy class seat, without any doubt a mask. Unfortunately, given the unpredictable and unprecedented times we are in, passengers probably have little choice but to endure this extremely long journey to get home.
What do you think of the resumption of the flight with the proviso that passers-by stay on the plane? Let us know your thoughts in the comments.