The Civil Aviation Authority of Singapore (CAAS) and Japan Civil Aviation Bureau (JCAB) signed a memorandum of cooperation (MoC) covering areas like sustainability and safety, air traffic management and airport innovation and technology.
Post the signing, both the regulating authorities releases a joint statement stating: “Prior to the pandemic in 2019, passenger movements between Singapore and Japan reached a historic high of 3.4 million. Over 200 weekly passenger services between Singapore and seven Japanese cities contributed to Japan’s stronghold as Singapore’s seventh-largest market.”
The MoC is the first of a kind agreement signed between Japan and a South-east Asian nation, CAAS and JCAB further added.
Han Kok Juan, director-general of CAAS, said: “This arrangement is testament to our strong economic and people-to-people ties and shared interest to expand air links between ourselves and beyond. It will also allow us to leverage complementary strengths in our respective public and private sectors to seize new opportunities in sustainability, technology and innovation.”
As a part of the agreement, both the countries will collaborate and share expertise in areas such as airport and airline developments, consumer protection and greater cooperation between the airlines of both countries.
The agreement will also cover areas like knowledge exchange, skills needed to create new jobs in sustainable aviation, developing a green lane to encourage the gradual uptake of flights powered by sustainable fuels and much more.
As the air travel continues to recover post-pandemic, five of the seven air links between the two countries have been re-established, with monthly passenger traffic reaching almost 50% of the level before the Covid-19 pandemic.