Everything About the Move to Allow Travellers to Transit Through Changi Airport

In May 2019, Changi Airport manages more than 170,000 arrivals a day.

Fast forward one year later and Changi Airport now handles about 100 arrivals and 700 departures a day.

Flights have fallen to just 80 a day and T4 was closed to save costs.

In line with the reopening of the economy, Singapore is going to “gradually allow” travellers to transit through the airport again from 2 June 2020.

At the current moment, only passengers on repatriation flights are allowed to transit through Singapore.

Repatriation flights are flights organised by the airline or government to bring their own people stuck overseas back to their country.

Stringent Measures Will Be Put Into Place

The Civil Aviation Authority of Singapore (CAAS) revealed that this move is “part of a strategy to meet the needs of the Singapore economy and its people”.

Read: To try and create more jobs again.

CAAS is now asking for airlines to submit proposals to transit through Changi Airport.

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The proposals will be evaluated based on:

• aviation safety
• the health of crew and passengers
• public health considerations

Transit passengers will also be required to stay within designated facilities at all times.

Staff who has to interact with travellers will be wearing Personal Protective Equipment (PPE).

Meanwhile, existing precautionary measures will still be implemented.

International Air Travel Badly Affected By Covid-19 Pandemic

Covid-19 is probably the greatest threat ever to airlines’ existence since the concept of terrorists.

I mean, even Thai Airways had to declare bankruptcy, although that was more of a culmination of the past decade rather than just Covid-19.

After all, even after governments manage to bring down the numbers within their own countries, simply introducing 1 import case could make all of their efforts come crashing down.

That’s the reason why a Singapore minister once said that even if we handle the Covid-19 outbreak well, it doesn’t mean that we’re safe.

Nonetheless, air travel is picking up with several countries now cautiously opening their borders.

The Airports Council International (ACI) World and the International Air Transport Association (IATA) are also calling on governments around the world to implement measures based on science and evidence consistent throughout the world.

So no making your visitors drink bleach. Got it.

The industry bodies are confident that with a “globally-consistent, outcome-based” approach, allowing air travel while keeping safe is a possibility.

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