Singapore Airlines, in a major development towards the recovery of air travel, has announced that it is converting all its India-Singapore services as Vaccinated Travel Lane flights. The airline has also announced that it is bringing back the iconic Airbus A380 to Mumbai this month.
VTL expansion
Presently, Singapore Airlines (SIA) operates VTL flights from Mumbai, Singapore and Chennai. Passengers travelling on VTL flights are allowed entry into Singapore without the requirement to quarantine. In a major move, the airline has now announced that it will convert all its services between India and Singapore to VTL flights. This means that in addition to Mumbai, Delhi and Chennai, it will progressively operate VTL flights from all its destinations in India, with the other 5 being Ahmedabad, Bengaluru, Kolkata, Hyderabad and Kochi starting 16th March 2022.
Short-term visitors and Singapore work permit holders, who wish to travel on the VTL services, need to apply for a Vaccinated Travel Pass (VTP) prior to their visa applications. VTP applications must be made between 3 and 60 calendar days before the intended date of entry into Singapore. SIA states that travellers must also ensure that they are eligible to travel under the VTL arrangements before their flight.
Sy Yen Chen, General Manager, Singapore Airlines, said:
Singapore’s decision to expand its VTL 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.
SIA’s low-cost subsidiary Scoot Airlines has also announced that it will also convert its non-VTL services from Amritsar, Coimbatore, Trivandrum, Tiruchirappalli, and Visakhapatnam into VTL.
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A380 to be back in Mumbai this month
The expansion of SIA Group’s VTL network is also perfectly timed with the re-launch of Airbus A380’s service to Mumbai starting 14th March 2022. The airline has also announced that it will resume A380 service to Delhi “in the coming months”.
Chen added:
We are thrilled to be able to bring our iconic super jumbo back to India. We are optimistic that this, along with the expansion of Singapore’s VTL arrangement, will inspire even more confidence for international travel to and from India. Singapore Airlines looks forward to welcoming more of our customers on board our flights.
It seems that SIA will operate the A380s with the new cabins. The aircraft features 6 First Class suites in a 1-1 configuration, 78 lie-flat Business Class suites in a 1-2-1 configuration, 44 Premium Economy Class seats in 2-4-2 configuration and 343 standard Economy Class seats in a 3-4-3 configuration.
Featured image by CNBCTC18
All the other images by Singapore Airlines
What do you think of Singapore Airlines expanding VTL network in India and the return of Airbus A380 to India? Let me know in the comments section below.
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