Singapore Law Blog

Singapore and China have signed an expanded air services pact which allows airlines of both countries to operate passenger and all-cargo services between China and Singapore with no restrictions on capacity, routing or aircraft type.

2 The new pact was signed on 30 November 2005 in Beijing between Singapore’s Minister for Transport, Mr Yeo Cheow Tong and the Minister for the General Administration of Civil Aviation of China (CAAC), Mr Yang Yuanyuan. At the signing ceremony, Minister Yeo said “This is a landmark agreement which has removed all restrictions on direct air services between Singapore and China. This new pact will pave the way for even more air services to be introduced between our two countries, which will in turn lead to greater economic, tourism and social exchanges. The pact will also provide opportunities for the airlines of both our countries to grow, riding on the phenomenal growth in China’s civil aviation market.”

3 The level of air services between China and Singapore has grown strongly over the years. Currently, Singapore and Chinese airlines operate more than 170 weekly scheduled passenger and all-cargo services between Singapore and 18 cities in China. This is a significant growth compared to 5 years ago, where the airlines of both countries operated only 73 weekly passenger and all-cargo services between Singapore and 6 cities in China.

4 Passenger and airfreight movements between Singapore and China grew 18% and 16% respectively between January and September 2005, compared with the same period last year.

Singapore Government Media Release
1 Dec 2005