Bookings for KL-Singapore flights have increased since VTL's announcement

The looming Vaccinated Travel Lane (VTL) for air travel between Malaysia and Singapore has sparked an immediate response, with a surge in flight bookings.

The VTL, which Malaysia and Singapore announced on November 8, would allow fully-vaccinated Malaysians and Singaporeans to travel between the two nations without having to follow any quarantine rules.

Arrivals will only have to undergo a Covid-19 test when air travel between the two nations reopens on November 29.
The VTL has yet to receive any additional information.

The VTL will also be the first programme to allow foreign visitors to enter Malaysia without being quarantined.

Travel booking site Traveloka's vice-president for marketing transport and financial services, Andhini Putri, told The Straits Times that after the announcement, it has seen a double-digit percentage increase in bookings for flights between the two nations.

Lavinia Rajaram, Asia head of communications for Expedia Group Brands, stated that the site had seen a 17-fold spike in search traffic for flights between Singapore and Kuala Lumpur.

The number of people looking for a place to stay in Kuala Lumpur had surged by 60%.

Malaysians in Singapore were pleased with the news, but many hoped that the loosened border restrictions would soon be extended to other means of transportation.

Many Malaysians in Singapore, according to research fellow Lim Sin Mei, prefer to travel home via land.

"In the event of an emergency, I'll contemplate returning to Kuala Lumpur on a VTL flight and then coming home (to Melaka) from there."

"Otherwise, I'll wait until January next year to see if there's a better possibility for me to return," she told the Singapore daily.