In this Dec 13, 2018 photo, travelers walk past stores at Terminal 3 of Changi Airport in Singapore. (PHOTO / BLOOMBERG)

SINGAPORE - Singapore and Hong Kong said on Thursday that they hoped a long-delayed air travel bubble between the two cities would start soon, but no date had been fixed.

A hotly anticipated travel link between the two Asian financial hubs was delayed last year after a spike in coronavirus cases in Hong Kong.

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Hong Kong's Commerce and Economic Development Bureau told Reuters that Singapore and Hong Kong were having advanced discussions regarding the air travel bubble and that the government would make an announcement "as soon as practicable".

Hong Kong has been trying to resume cross-border travel in a gradual and orderly manner with places where the epidemic is stable and economic and trade ties are strong, a government spokesperson said Thursday.

Singapore’s Ministry of Transport said that “Singapore and Hong Kong have been in close consultations on the air travel bubble. We have not fixed a date to announce the resumption of the bubble, but will do so once we are ready, hopefully very soon.”

Hong Kong’s Cathay Pacific Airways Ltd. and Singapore Airlines Ltd. would operate the flights between the two cities. While the limited number of bubble trips would do little to plug their pandemic-related losses, any opening would be a positive step for the carriers as well as people who haven’t left either city for a year or more, dissuaded in part by strict quarantine requirements.

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