Changi Airport traffic strongest in December, near pre-Covid levels

PASSENGER traffic in Changi Airport recorded a high in December last year with 4.6 million movements, reaching 72 per cent of pre-pandemic traffic levels in 2019. 

More than 1.1 million passengers were handled from Dec 12 to Dec 18, or 82 per cent of the weekly average in 2019, making it the busiest week of the year.

For the full year, the airport handled 32.2 million passengers in 2022, or about half of the traffic in 2019, Changi Airport Group (CAG) said.  

South-east Asia recorded a new high of two million passenger movements in December last year following the region’s reopening, reaching over 75 per cent of traffic in 2019. 

In South Korea, passenger traffic also exceeded pre-Covid levels last December, driven partly by additional capacity on new airlines and routes.

All regions registered strong recovery in passenger traffic in 2022, the group reported, with North America even slightly exceeding pre-Covid traffic. Southwest Pacific, South Asia, and Europe each reached two-thirds of 2019 levels.

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Four new passenger city links and eight new airlines, of which seven were passenger airlines and one freighter operator, were established in 2022, CAG said. 

The reopening of Terminals 2 and 4 has also helped cater to the strong travel demand, said CAG executive vice-president of air hub and cargo development Lim Ching Kiat. 

Australia, Malaysia, Indonesia, India and Thailand were the top traffic markets in 2022. Meanwhile, Kuala Lumpur, Bangkok and Jakarta were Changi Airport’s three busiest routes in 2022, which is similar to 2019. 

The airport will also be welcoming more flights in the coming months, for example, new flights from Addis Ababa by Ethiopian Airlines in March, said CAG. 

Meanwhile, aircraft movements in December last year reached 76 per cent of pre-pandemic levels at 25,4000. For the full year, it recorded 219,000, or 57.2 per cent of 2019 levels. 

Airfreight throughput fell by 17.3 per cent year-on-year in December 2022 to 153,000 tonnes. It also saw 1.85 million tonnes in 2022, a year-on-year decline of 4.8 per cent. 

Cargo flows in 2022 also “dipped slightly” against the backdrop of economic uncertainty and inflationary pressures, the group said. Changi’s top five air cargo markets for the year were, in order, China, Australia, US, Hong Kong and Japan.

“Notwithstanding near-term challenges such as global economic uncertainty and inflationary pressures, we are confident that we will be able to progressively restore Changi Airport’s connectivity and traffic to pre-Covid levels,” Lim said. 

As at the first week of January this year, airport activity reached 82 per cent of pre-Covid connectivity.