Singapore to restart work on Changi Airport T5 construction
Tay Peck Gek
SINGAPORE is restarting work on Changi Airport’s Terminal 5 (T5) in about 2 to 3 years for it to be ready by the mid-2030s, a move that reflects its growing confidence in earlier recovery of the aviation industry that has been pummelled by the pandemic.
Minister for Transport S Iswaran made the announcement on the aviation infrastructure construction in his opening address at the inaugural Changi Aviation Summit on Tuesday (May 17), themed Readying for Take–off: A Brighter and Cleaner Tomorrow.
The city-state stepped on the brakes on the project in May 2020 as it reassessed the trajectory of aviation growth, learned from the pandemic experience, and reviewed the terminal’s design to meet the needs of post-pandemic travel.
Iswaran noted that the current and projected recovery in air travel demand has given Singapore a renewed impetus to secure its infrastructural capacity for growth. Added the minister: “We have taken the opportunity of the 2-year hiatus to comprehensively review the T5 design to make it more modular and flexible, and enhance its resilience and sustainability. We will re-mobilise the design and engineering consultants progressively, to update and further refine the T5 design. “
The minister commented that many airports around the world, especially in the Asia-Pacific, were grappling with congestion within the terminals, as well as aircraft movements on the ground and in the skies, pre-pandemic. Therefore, it is critical to have the capacity to not only secure a confident recovery from the pandemic, but also to build a strong runway for future growth.
Passenger traffic at Changi Airport recovered to above 40 per cent of pre-Covid levels in May, compared to just under 20 per cent in mid-March.
Terminal 2 (T2), which has been closed since May 2020, will reopen this year after expansion and renovation works. When fully completed, it will be able to handle 28 million passenger movements a year, making it the biggest passenger terminal in terms of capacity throughput at Changi. T2’s upgrading had been going on for most of the last 2 years after it was closed in May 2020. Terminal 4, which was also shut in 2020, is ready to be reopened at relatively short notice, according to a recent Straits Times article.
The International Air Transport Association (IATA) now forecasts that overall air passenger numbers are expected to recover to pre-Covid levels by 2023, 1 year earlier than previously anticipated. IATA forecasts that passenger air traffic in the Asia-Pacific will grow at 4.5 per cent annually over the next 20 years, effectively doubling volume over the next 2 decades.
Jointly organised by the Civil Aviation Authority of Singapore and the Ministry of Transport, the 2-day Changi Aviation Summit beginning Tuesday hosts more than 300 global aviation leaders, policymakers and senior executives from some 45 countries at the Sands Expo and Convention Centre.
