Changi clocks over half a million passenger movements between Singapore and China in August
AIR travel traffic between Singapore and China is slowly but surely recovering from the impact of the pandemic, with passenger and flight volumes at Changi Airport now at over 70 per cent of pre-pandemic levels.
Operator Changi Airport Group (CAG) recorded passenger movements of 510,000 between the two countries in August. This was 72 per cent of the figure recorded in August 2019, before the pandemic hit Singapore in January 2020.
CAG noted that August 2023 was the first time passenger movements to and from China crossed the half-million mark since the pandemic. The company attributed the improved traffic to the gradual easing of travel restrictions by China.
In August, China became the third-largest market for Changi, contributing to 10 per cent of the total passenger traffic at the Singapore airport. Indonesia and Malaysia were respectively the largest and second-largest markets.
In comparison, China was the second-largest market before the pandemic, accounting for 11 per cent of annual traffic.
Shanghai, Guangzhou, Beijing, Hangzhou and Nanjing were the top five Chinese cities by passenger movements in both directions in August, with Shanghai being Changi Airport’s 12th-largest city by passenger movements.
CAG said scheduled passenger flight movements between Singapore and China have recovered to 76 per cent of pre-pandemic levels. There were 2,600 flights in August, compared to 3,400 in August 2019, before the pandemic.
As at August, Changi is linked to 25 cities in mainland China and served by 12 airlines, compared with 37 city links and 16 carriers before the pandemic.
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