By Massita Ahmad
SINGAPORE, Dec 23 (NNN-Bernama) — Singapore and Japan have signed a high-level strategic framework arrangement to collaborate on civil aviation, as both sides emerge from the COVID-19 pandemic and work with their respective aviation industries to rebuild the sector.
The comprehensive framework arrangement covering six key areas – air transport, aviation sustainability, aviation safety, air traffic management, airport innovation and technology, and unmanned aircraft systems and advanced air mobility.
In a joint statement issued here today, the Civil Aviation Authority of Singapore (CAAS) and the Japan’s Ministry of Land, Infrastructure, Transport and Tourism (MLIT) said the arrangement is the first of its kind to be signed between Japan and a Southeast Asian nation.
Known as the Memorandum of Cooperation (MOC), it was signed by the Director-General of CAAS Han Kok Juan, and Assistant Vice-Minister for International Aviation of MLIT Toshiyuki Onuma in Tokyo, Japan.
According to the statement, extensive air connectivity between Singapore and Japan continues to drive strong travel demands between the two nations.
Prior to the pandemic in 2019, passenger movements between Singapore and Japan reached a historic high of 3.4 million, it said.
It added that over 200 weekly passenger services between Singapore and seven Japanese cities made Japan as Singapore’s seventh largest market.
As air travel recovers, Japan remains among the top destination for travel and five of the seven air links re-established with monthly passenger traffic recovery nearing 50 per cent of pre-pandemic levels, it said.
— NNN-BERNAMA