Oral Reply by Minister for Transport S Iswaran to Parliamentary Question on Air Travel and Changi Airport's Recovery

Mr Sharael Taha asked the Minister for Transport with the reopening of Changi Airport’s Terminal 4 and the recommencement of departure operations in the southern wing of Terminal 2 

a.     what is the total number of additional manpower required to support the reopening; 

b.     whether the Terminals are sufficiently manned to meet Singapore’s year-end air passenger traffic targets; and 

c.     if not, how does the Ministry ensure that there is sufficient manpower to support the ramp-up in capacity so that travellers’ experience that Changi Airport is renowned for is not affected.

Mr Saktiandi Supaat asked the the Minister for Transport with the gradual re-opening of terminals at Changi Airport 

a.     what percentage of its capacity is the airport operating at presently, taking into account the airport’s currently available manpower, retail services and other infrastructure; 

b.     what are the assumptions underlying the projection that the number of flights handled by Changi Airport will rise to 80% of pre- pandemic levels by end-2022; and 

c.     what concrete steps are being taken to scale up on the airport’s capacity.

Reply by Minister for Transport S Iswaran:

1.     Air travel has recovered steadily since Singapore re- opened its borders to all fully-vaccinated travellers without testing or quarantine in April 2022. As of the first week of September 2022, average weekly passenger traffic at Changi Airport has recovered to above 60% of pre-COVID-19 levels. The number of flights at Changi Airport has also recovered to nearly two-thirds of pre-COVID-19 levels.

2.     The number of flights that airlines have filed to operate at Changi Airport by year end is more than 80% of pre-COVID-19 levels. We expect this to increase further as airlines respond to demand from travellers, following the recent border easing announcements by key travel markets such as Hong Kong, Japan and Taiwan.

3.     To accommodate this anticipated growth in the number of passengers and flights, we re-opened Terminal 4 on 13 September. We will also be commencing departure operations in the southern wing of Terminal 2 on 11 October, in addition to arrivals which had commenced on 29 May. With this, Changi Airport will have the physical capacity to accommodate up to 100% of pre-COVID-19 passenger traffic levels, or about 70 million passengers per annum. This represents about 80% of Changi’s pre-COVID-19 capacity.

4.     Our aviation stakeholders have been concurrently working hard to build up their workforce and train their new hires to support this ramp-up in capacity. This has been an ongoing process since early this year. The air transport sector workforce has recovered to about 80% of pre-COVID-19 levels in the first half of the year. Aviation stakeholders aim to hire another 4,000 workers between September to the end of this year. Cumulatively, this will bring us to about 90% of our pre-COVID- 19 workforce. The recruitment efforts of the companies in the sector are currently on track.

5.     Thanks to the efforts of the whole aviation community, including our regulator, airport operator, airlines, ground handling companies, unions, and workers, Changi has managed the recovery relatively well so far. By continuing to work together as one Changi community, I am confident that Changi Airport will be ready to welcome more passengers back to Singapore, and offer them the distinctive traveller experience that Changi is renowned for.