Changi Airport’s Budget Terminal to be closed

Changi Airport Group (CAG) today announced that it will close Singapore Changi Airport’s Budget Terminal on 25 September 2012. The terminal will be demolished to make way for the construction of a larger passenger building so as to cater to the continued growth of air traffic at Changi Airport and further strengthen Singapore’s air hub status.

The new terminal, to be known as Terminal 4, will have a capacity of 16 million passengers per annum (mppa). It will be designed to enable efficient passenger processing and quick turnaround of aircraft, and will not have aerobridges. Unlike the present Budget Terminal, Terminal 4 will have a wide choice of retail and food & beverage offerings as well as passenger amenities that will better serve the needs of travellers.

To facilitate the construction of Terminal 4, airlines currently operating in the Budget Terminal will move their operations to Terminal 2 and will start operations there from 0600 hours on 25 September 2012. The affected airlines are Berjaya Air, Cebu Pacific, Firefly, South East Asian Airlines and Tiger Airways.

CAG has had discussions with the airlines operating at the Budget Terminal since late last year regarding the terminal’s closure. It will work with the respective airlines to ensure a smooth transition of their operations, and will endeavour to minimise inconvenience to passengers as far as possible. More details on each airline’s operations at Terminal 2 will be provided nearer the effective date.

Investing for long-term growth

The existing Budget Terminal handled more than 4.6 million passenger movements in 2011. While Changi Airport, with a total capacity of more than 70 mppa, still has room to accommodate air traffic growth, CAG believes in planning ahead to ensure there is capacity to handle further increase in traffic demand.

Over the past decade, passenger traffic at Changi Airport has increased at a compounded annual growth rate of 5.2%. In 2011, Changi handled a total of 46.5 million passenger movements, a year-on-year increase of 10.7%. Singapore-based carriers – Singapore Airlines, SilkAir, Tiger Airways, Jetstar Asia and Scoot – have ordered new aircraft and foreign carriers have also expressed the desire to grow their air links with Singapore. The new terminal will enable CAG to sustain the long-term growth of Changi Airport.

Construction of Terminal 4 will begin in 2013 and the new terminal is expected to be ready by 2017. Further details of the new terminal will be released at a later date.