SINGAPORE, 10 November 2021: Malaysia and Singapore will reopen borders with a special Vaccinated Travel Lane (VTL) between KL International Airport and Changi Airport starting 29 November.
The reopening only covers air travel and does not include land travel via the Causeway or Second Link.
Under the VTL, fully vaccinated travellers will be able to travel between Singapore and Malaysia, but they will still need to take Covid-19 tests instead of serving quarantine or a stay-at-home notice. The border between the two countries has been closed since 18 March 2020.
The Singapore – Kuala Lumpur sector is one of the busiest passenger air routes in the world, with over 30,000 flights in 2018 alone. Singapore Airlines has recently deployed its Airbus A380 to fly between the two cities, which makes it the world’s shortest A380 international flight.
As both countries have made good progress with vaccinating residents against Covid-19, the two governments have agreed to progressively resume cross border travel which will help revive the economy, restore people-to-people ties and strengthen the bilateral partnership.
Malaysia has fully vaccinated more than 75% of its population, and in Singapore, more than 85% have been fully vaccinated.
Discussions between the two governments continue on opening cross-border travel by land. They are also looking at launching a similar VTL scheme between the southern Malaysian state of Johor and Singapore in the near future.
The Malaysian government has also announced that it will open Langkawi Island for international tourists under a travel bubble from 15 November 2021.
Besides Malaysia, Singapore had also announced VTL with 13 other countries, which include the UK, USA, Australia, Canada, Denmark, Switzerland, Spain, Italy, France, the Netherlands, South Korea, Germany and Brunei.
In addition, Sweden and Finland are also listed in Singapore’s “vaccinated travel lanes” effective from 29 November, according to the latest new release from Singapore’s health ministry.
All VTL travellers boarding flights in Kuala Lumpur must present two negative Covid-19 PCR test results. One is a pre-departure test conducted within 48 hours before departing to Singapore and again on arrival at Changi Airport. They must remain self-isolated until their test result is confirmed negative. Children aged two years and below in the calendar year are not required to undergo these tests.
Travellers must have been fully vaccinated and present their proof of vaccination issued in any VTL country or Singapore, regardless of which VTL country the traveller departed. They must only travel on the designated VTL flights.
