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Singapore
AsiaSoutheast Asia

Singapore aims to be Asia’s busiest international airport ahead of Hong Kong which has delayed lifting travel curbs

  • Voted best airport 15 years in a row before Covid-19, Changi upgraded its services as Singapore looks to welcome back tourists en masse
  • Singapore was among the first in Asia to ease restrictions by establishing vaccinated travel lanes, while travel in Hong Kong has slowed to a trickle

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Travellers queue for self check-in before departure at Changi International Airport in Singapore on April 1, 2022. Singapore has reopened its land and air borders to travellers fully vaccinated against the Covid-19 coronavirus. Photo: AFP
Bloomberg
Changi Airport was crowned the world’s best aerodrome for 15 years straight before Covid-19 due to its superior traveller offerings and hi-tech customer service. Now it’s readying to welcome back visitors en masse, hoping improvements made during the pandemic will cement its status as Asia’s premier aviation hub.
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Most of the shops at the two Changi terminals that are operating have reopened and business partners like Singapore Airlines Ltd. and ground handling and catering outfit SATS Ltd. are hiring in anticipation of a travel rebound, seeking to avoid the labour shortage-induced snarls of Australia and Europe. New technology is being applied that is taking contactless service to the next level.

Such efforts could help Changi become the region’s busiest airport for international travel in 2022, a title that is there for the taking considering the woes of Hong Kong International Airport, where air passenger traffic has slowed to a trickle under China’s zero-Covid policy. Restoring Changi, which commands a certain spot in the nation’s psyche, is also vital to Singapore’s economy, with the aviation sector accounting for more than 5 per cent of the city’s gross domestic product and providing around 200,000 jobs.
People pass the control tower of Singapore’s Changi Airport in January 2021. Photo: Reuters
People pass the control tower of Singapore’s Changi Airport in January 2021. Photo: Reuters

“Changi is the most liberal airport we have in Southeast Asia right now,” said Mohshin Aziz, director of the Pangolin Aviation Recovery Fund, which invests in aviation-related businesses. “We are in this situation where the difference in policies will determine whether an airport is in the 21st century or in the dark ages.”

Singapore was among the first in Asia to start easing travel restrictions by establishing so-called vaccinated travel lanes that ultimately allowed people from 32 countries to visit without quarantine. From April, the island was opened to anyone who is fully inoculated regardless of where they’re from.

While waiting for footfall pick up, Changi was making behind-the-scenes adjustments. Self check-in kiosks and baggage drops now operate when a person hovers their finger over a screen. Passengers use automated immigration gates that scan faces and irises if those biometrics are registered in a passport. Air conditioning and mechanical ventilation has been installed with hospital-grade filters and ultraviolet sanitisation systems, and autonomous cleaning robots use misting to disinfect carpets.

Singapore itself has set aside almost S$500 million (US$367 million) to spur a tourism revival.

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