Charges to fund T5: Is there another way?

THE recent furore over Changi Airport's decision to levy progressively increasing charges on passengers and planes to help fund the building of Terminal 5 and other airport expansion works may have cooled, but the resentment against the move lingers.

While passengers protest over having to pay more for a facility they may never use, airlines cite costs.

Demand for air travel in the Asia-Pacific is expected to triple in the next two decades. In fact, while global air traffic doubles every 15 years, for the Asia-Pacific this is compressed into 12 years. In fact by 2036, this region will account for 40 per cent of global air traffic. The International Air Transport Association (Iata) and various other organisations project that routes to, from and within the Asia-Pacific will see an extra 2.1 billion passengers by 2036, boosting market size to almost 3.6 billion.