Passenger traffic at Singapore’s Changi Airport should return to pre-pandemic levels by 2024, or possibly earlier. (Photo: AFP/VNA) The minister told the Parliament that passenger traffic volumes, flights and city links at Changi are now at about 80% of pre-COVID-19 levels, while flights at Seletar Airport have recovered fully since January 2023.
In 2019, a total of 68.3 million passengers passed through Changi Airport, with 382,000 commercial flights taking off or landing at the airport.
Passenger traffic fell to a low of 0.5% of this total during the pandemic in 2020.
Iswaran noted that weekly flight services from Singapore to China have more than doubled from 38 in January to nearly 100 now.
While this is a quarter of the weekly flights to China that were available in 2019, Chinese and Singaporean carriers are expected to resume more services in the coming months, he added.
The aviation workforce – currently at 90% of pre-pandemic levels – is also expected to recover fully by 2023, he said.
Regarding the construction of Terminal 5, Iswaran said land preparation and drainage works at Changi East have been completed and construction on the mega project is expected to start by 2025.
Authorities are working with consultants to update the terminal’s design so that it is more modular, resilient and energy-efficient, he added.
Slated to be operational in the mid-2030s, T5 will serve 50 million passengers a year, more than T1 and T3 combined.
The Changi East development, which includes T5, support facilities and a new industrial zone, is expected to cost tens of billions of dollars./.
VNA
