Singapore has been working with a Vaccinated Travel Lane since late 2021 to open up air links to the rest of the world while keeping up with their health requirements. When you travel on a flight that is marked as VTL, you are not required to quarantine in Singapore. Although one of the requirements is that you need to be fully vaccinated, and apply for a Vaccinated Travel Pass which is issued to you over and above your Singapore Visa (if required).

In November 2021, Singapore added India to their VTL programme and offered designated departures from BOM/DEL/MAA to have flights that were considered VTL eligible. One flight from Singapore Airlines and one from an Indian carrier were made eligible.

Singapore’s CAAS expands VTL across India

On Friday, the Civil Aviation Authority of Singapore (CAAS) announced that it will take further steps to extend the Vaccinated Travel Lane (VTL). The CAAS will extend the VTL to more cities in Malaysia, Indonesia, and India to facilitate travel and densify the Singapore air hub’s connectivity with these key markets. We will also launch VTLs from two new countries: Greece and Vietnam.

From March 16, 2022, the VTL for India will extend beyond Chennai, Delhi, and Mumbai to include all Indian cities. Airlines that plan to operate from these points under the VTL may submit their plans for designated flights to CAAS for approval.

Short-term visitors and work permit holders eligible to travel on the VTL must apply for a VTP to enter Singapore under the VTL. Fully vaccinated Singapore Citizens, Permanent Residents, all other long-term pass holders, and In-Principle Approval (IPA) holders, and children aged 12 years and below in the calendar year do not need to apply for a VTP to enter Singapore under the VTL.

Singapore Airlines and Scoot to offer an expanded VTL network across India

On the back of this announcement by CAAS, Singapore Airlines has announced that starting from March 16, 2022, it will progressively convert all flights from India to Singapore to Vaccinated Travel Lane (VTL) services. This will provide eligible customers with quarantine-free entry into Singapore from eight points across India.

While existing daily VTL flights will continue to operate from Chennai, Delhi and Mumbai, all of Singapore Airlines’ India flights that arrive in Singapore from March 16, 2022, will progressively operate as VTL services. This includes SIA’s flights from Ahmedabad, Bengaluru, Hyderabad, Kochi, and Kolkata.

Here is the list of Singapore Airline’s flights to Singapore with the dates of their conversion to VTL flights:

• SQ505 Ahmedabad – Singapore (March 15, 2022, onwards)
• SQ511 Bengaluru – Singapore (March 15, 2022, onwards)
• SQ525 Chennai – Singapore (March 27, 2022, onwards)
• SQ401 Delhi – Singapore (March 17, 2022, onwards)
• SQ523 Hyderabad – Singapore (March 15, 2022, onwards)
• SQ535 Kochi – Singapore (March 15, 2022, onwards)
• SQ517 Kolkata – Singapore (March 15, 2022, onwards)

Scoot, SIA’s low-cost subsidiary, will also progressively convert its non-VTL services from Amritsar, Coimbatore, Trivandrum, Tiruchirappalli, and Visakhapatnam to VTL services. Here is the list of Scoot flights to Singapore with the dates of their conversion to VTL flights:

• TR509 Amritsar – Singapore (March 16, 2022, onwards)
• TR541 Coimbatore – Singapore (March 16, 2022, onwards)
• TR565 Tiruchirappalli – Singapore (March 15, 2022, onwards)
• TR531 Thiruvananthanapuram – Singapore (March 15, 2022, onwards)
• TR581 Vishakhapatnam – Singapore (March 16, 2022, onwards)

Singapore Airlines to bring back the A380 to Mumbai on March 18, 2022

Singapore Airlines is also bringing back the A380 aircraft to India, starting with Mumbai on March 18, 2022. SQ424/423 (Singapore – Mumbai – Singapore) will again be operated with the A380 aircraft of Singapore Airlines effective March 18, 2022. Delhi will follow.

Singapore had earlier announced the return of the A380 to India in February 2022 but pulled back given the Omicron variant and associated restrictions placed in Singapore.

On this occasion, Singapore Airlines’ General Manager for India, Mr Sy Yen Chen, said:

Singapore’s decision to expand its Vaccinated Travel Lane arrangement to cover all points across India will be a welcome development for all our customers. We continue to see strong demand across India from customers who are waiting to enjoy convenient and quarantine-free travel to Singapore.

Remember, VTL travel cannot be used to transit Singapore for flights beyond Singapore, and unlike the Middle East, Singapore is abiding by the regulations. Also, expect Indian carriers to announce more plans to fly to Singapore shortly as well, under the new VTL corridor created.

Bottomline

Effective March 16, 2022, you can fly from India to Singapore on any Singapore Airlines or Scoot flight and it will be treated as a VTL flight per the dates mentioned above. Indian carriers are expected to join in the coming days as well. However, to fly on a VTL flight, you will need to have a VTP which you need to apply for before applying for your Singapore Visa.

What do you make of the new requirements which make an expanded VTL corridor to fly to Singapore?

---

Liked our articles and our efforts? Please pay an amount you are comfortable with; an amount you believe is the fair price for the content you have consumed. Please enter an amount in the box below and click on the button to pay; you can use Netbanking, Debit/Credit Cards, UPI, QR codes, or any Wallet to pay. Every contribution helps cover the cost of the content generated for your benefit.

(Important: to receive confirmation and details of your transaction, please enter a valid email address in the pop-up form that will appear after you click the ‘Pay Now’ button. For international transactions, use Paypal to process the transaction.)

We are not putting our articles behind any paywall where you are asked to pay before you read an article. We are asking you to pay after you have read the article if you are satisfied with the quality and our efforts.