Singapore begins flying with Covid-19 vaccinated employees

Singapore Airlines is beginning to fly with Covid-19 vaccinated employees. The airline says pilots and cabin crew on 3 international flights from the country have received both doses of the Pfizer-BioNTech vaccine.

The airline said pilots and cabin crew on 3 international flights from Singapore had received both of the required doses of the Pfizer-BioNTech vaccine. The move to become the world’s first carrier to feature all plane employees vaccinated against the coronavirus is being pushed by the government as it is urging workers to sign up for its vaccination program.

The carrier says more than 90% of its cabin crew and pilots have, indeed, signed up for the inoculation program, with 85% already receiving at least the first dose. The airline says it expects all employees to be fully vaccinated by March. The 3 flights with vaccinated crew go outbound to Bangkok, Phnom Penh and Jakarta-all in the southeast Asian region.

According to Singaporeair.com, as of January 2021, SIA will reinstate services to Dubai, Moscow and Munich, and increase the frequency of its existing services to points in the United States, Europe and South Africa. From March 2021, SIA will reinstate services to Tokyo Haneda.

Scoot’s services to Kuala Lumpur, Manila and Perth will be temporarily suspended, while SIA and SilkAir will increase their frequencies on those routes. At the same time, SIA and SilkAir will temporarily suspend services to Penang, Surabaya and Taipei while Scoot will operate to these destinations at higher frequencies. These changes, which are subject to regulatory approvals, are expected to take place in November and December 2020.

The affected travel period for these destinations are as follows:

• Kuala Lumpur: From 17 November 2020
• Manila: From 4 December 2020
• Penang: From 8 December 2020
• Perth: From 5 December 2020
• Surabaya: From 9 December 2020
• Taipei: From 16 December 2020

Meanwhile, Abu Dhabi’s Etihad Airways says its flights are only being operated by pilots and cabin crew who had been vaccinated, which a spokeswoman later said it meant the crews had received at least 1 dose.

SOURCE: Bangkok Post