Changi Airport’s Passenger Traffic Has Surpassed Pre-Pandemic Levels

By
Nadia Irdina
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Singapore’s pride and joy – Changi Airport, has been busier than ever.

Like ants in a colony, Changi Airport has recently been filled with locals and travellers alike, scurrying in and out of checkpoints.

Here are some cool airport stats that will surely lift-off your mood. Tap into your FOMO and start booking your tickets now!

Changi Airport Before

According to the Straits Times, in 2019, before the pandemic hit, Changi Airport registered 68.3 million passengers movements.

During the pandemic in 2020 and 2021 however, it is reported that passenger traffic fell so significantly that in May 2020, Changi Airport had temporarily closed terminal 2 and terminal 4 for 18 months to save costs after the steep decline in passenger traffic. This was announced by Transport Minister Khaw Boon Wan on 6 April back in 2020 on Facebook.

Later in 2022, Changi Airport saw a slow, but steady increase in passenger traffic, registering a total of 32.2 million passengers. While it was still a significant improvement, it showed that air travels hadn’t fully recovered quite yet.

Reaching for the Stars

According to the folks working hard at Changi Airport Group (CAG) on Wednesday (13 Mar), 5.35 million passengers were moving about in the airport in Feb 2024.

That sounds like a lot of people, and it is – given that it’s about 88% of Singapore’s population.

They observed that the airport was busiest on 18 Feb, which is amid Chinese New Year Celebrations. About 203,000 passengers were there – walking, shopping, checking in.

This was considered a milestone since COVID-19 rendered our terminals a ghost town. 2023 was noted as a year for the industry to recover and the numbers this year are only going up.

In fact, the passenger traffic at the airport surpassed pre-pandemic levels for the first time in Feb. It hit 104.3 per cent of the numbers observed in Feb 2019.

Source: facebook.com

Mr Lim Ching Kiat, the executive vice-president of air hub and cargo development in CAG, shared in Jan 2024 that they are “hopeful of making a full recovery” to pre-pandemic conditions, in terms of connectivity and passenger movement.

No Visa? No Problem

Why the sudden influx? Why did everyone decide to travel?

Mr Mayur Patel, head of Asia at global travel data provider OAG Aviation said that the increase in traffic at Changi Airport in Feb can be due to three main reasons:

  1. Leap Year – One extra day to fly
  2. Chinese New Year Holidays – it was long, it was nice
  3. Visa Waiver for travellers from mainland China

In case you missed out, starting from 9 Feb, Singaporeans and Chinese citizens can travel to each other’s countries without a visa, and stay for up to 30 days. This is also true in Thailand and Malaysia.

Singapore Tourism Board seems to prove Mr Patel right, with about 23 per cent of the 1.44 million visitors to Singapore coming from mainland China. Trip.com Singapore also saw a 60 per cent increase in bookings on their site from China to Singapore, compared to the numbers in Jan.

Future Plans

Right now, our airport holds 93 airlines and 6,900 weekly scheduled flights (bopian if you’re one of the few whose flights got cancelled), connecting our island to more than 150 cities all over the world.

Changi Airport is huge (yes, I can’t be the only one who clocked 10,000 steps in there before) and it will continue to expand and upgrade. Mr Patel projects more frequent flights and more destinations, making our airport more appealing to locals and travellers, and leaving us no reason not to travel.

Until then, start looking at where you want to go next, start packing your bags, and who knows, we might see each other at the airport!

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Nadia Irdina