International commercial travel unlikely to return to Canberra Airport

Under the proposed travel bubble Australians would be able to travel to Singapore without the approval of the Department of Home Affairs if they were vaccinated against COVID-19.

While Canberra Airport has welcomed back international repatriation flights, they are not currently flying to or accepting commercial international flights due to international border closures.

Canberra Airport chief executive Stephen Byron said the airport supported two-way travel bubbles between Australia and Singapore, New Zealand and "potentially Fiji".

"We have been advocating for a trans-Tasman bubble for over nine months," he said.

"Currently, New Zealanders can travel freely to most Australian states, but to be viable, it needs to be a two-way bubble.

"The vaccine rollout is critical. State border closures are now a thing of the past, and the next step is to safely welcome back international travel."

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In September 2020, Singapore Airlines indefinitely suspended direct flights to Canberra Airport after three years of operating in the capital due to the COVID-19 pandemic and subsequent international border closures.

A Singapore Airlines spokesman said the travel bubble was not likely to reverse the suspension.

"At this stage, we have no plans to recommence regularly scheduled services to Canberra," he said.

"We continue to monitor travel demand and will continue to be nimble and flexible in matching our capacity to meet the demand for air travel."

The spokesman said it was an "extremely difficult" decision to pull out of Canberra in 2020.

"We are very proud of all that we achieved in Canberra over the past three-and-a-half years, in particular, to have been the first international airline to operate regularly scheduled services from Australia's capital," he said.

The spokesman said the airline welcomed and supported all initiatives to resume international air travel.

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