On 29th November 2021, Singapore and Malaysia will open a Vaccinated Travel Lane (VTL) between Kuala Lumpur International Airport and Changi Airport.
Malaysia Prime Minister Datuk Seri Ismail Sabri Yaakob and his Singapore counterpart Lee Hsien Loong issued a joint statement on 8th November, announcing the opening of Vaccinated Travel Lane (VTL) on the said date in between KLIA and Changi Airports.
“The VTL is an important milestone in the longstanding Malaysia-Singapore cooperation. The VTLs will allow travel between both the two countries as it gradually reopens borders responsibly by balancing the need to recover our economies while ensuring safety and health of our peoples from COVID-19,” said Datuk Seri Ismail in the statement.
“Given the significant progress that both countries have made in vaccinating their respective populations and managing the COVID-19 pandemic, the Prime Ministers agreed that it is timely to progressively resume cross-border travel between both the countries, in a safe manner,” said PM Lee.
Travellers will be only required to take COVID-19 tests in lieu of serving quarantine that was previously mandatory, the statement added.
Here are the 3 things about the travel lane that is made known so far:
Malaysia’s First Vaccinated Travel Lane (VTL)Singapore and Malaysia currently have in place a safe travel arrangement through the Periodic Commuting Arrangement (PCA). The Reciprocal Green Lane scheme between the countries is presently suspended.
Recently, Minister of Health, Khairy Jamaluddin have stated that the country is open to discussing quarantine-free travel with United Kingdom after meeting the UK Secretary of State for Foreign, Commonwealth and Development Affairs, Elizabeth Truss.
Commencing through Changi Airport and KLIA
Singapore’s Transport Minister S Iswaran stated during a multi-ministerial task force press conference that the VTL will begin with six authorised services per day between Changi Airport and KLIA.
Causeway and SecondLink reopening is underway
Both governments said in the same statement that travel through land links between the two countries are also on the agenda.
“They were happy to note the good progress in ongoing detailed discussions on a similar vaccinated travel scheme, to reopen travel across the Causeway and the Second Link, taking into account the public health situations in Johor and Singapore,” the statement added.
The government had previously stated that dedicated vaccination travel lanes will be established to facilitate cross-border travel between Malaysia and Singapore.
Datuk Seri Nancy Shukri, Malaysia’s Minister of Tourism, Arts, and Culture, said at the time that talks involving numerous ministries from both nations were in the pipeline.
