Changi Airport T4 and T2’s Departure Hall to reopen in coming months

Changi Airport Group (CAG) will be reopening Terminal 4 (T4) in September 2022 and commencing departure operations in the southern wing of Terminal 2 (T2) in October in a bid to meet the full recovery of pre-Covid-19 passenger traffic in the Northern Winter Season that begins Oct 30.

Arrival operations at T2 have commenced since May 29. Meanwhile, expansion and upgrading works in the northern wing will continue.

Passengers arriving at T2 can look forward to brand new stores by The Shilla Duty Free for beauty products and Lotte Duty Free for duty-free wines and spirits in August and September respectively. A cluster of up to 4 food and beverage (F&B) concepts will open in the arrival hall in October.

T4 meanwhile will be able to handle both departure and arrival flights come September. Engagement with airlines, airport partners and potential tenants has begun to prepare for this, said CAG. Some time will be needed to sign new leases with concessionaires and it is expected that there will be a small number of retail outlets and F&B options.

It is expected that airlines previously operating at T4 will return to the terminal and CAG is working with the airlines on the relocation details. Details on airlines to be operating at T2 will be announced.

Since the relaxation of travel protocols on Apr 1, passenger traffic at Changi Airport has recovered strongly. For the first week of June, passenger traffic reached 48 per cent of pre-Covid-19 levels.

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“In June this year, we’ve already had travel volumes at 50 per cent or more from pre-Covid levels. If I can put that in context, in March ... compared with volumes now, it is about 2-and-a-half times that. So in other words, volumes have increased quite sharply in the space of 2 to 3 months,” said Transport Minister S Iswaran during a media doorstop.

“This is not unique to Singapore. We’ve seen it around the world and I think in general, the recovery in travel has been strong.”

He further noted that the International Air Transport Association (Iata) now forecasts that air travel may recover to pre-Covid levels by as early as the end of next year, 1 year ahead of what was previously expected.

“The fast rebound in travel demand has given us great encouragement to prepare Changi Airport for the full recovery of passenger volume back to pre-Covid-19 levels. The additional capacity offered by T4 and T2 will put Changi Airport in a good position to capture this recovery and support the business and operational needs of airlines,” said Lee Seow Hiang, CAG’s chief executive.

The reopening of T4 and T2 will help “prepare for the next phase” said Iswaran.

“Specifically, what we want to do is ensure that our airport operating capacity volume can be taken up to as high as 70 million passengers. This is at about the level we were operating in terms of passenger flow, pre-Covid,” he said.

Operationally, the industry is also working to ramp up manpower.

“That’s why we had one aviation career fair recently, and there was very strong interest,” he said.

He noted that while the career fair helps raise awareness and create interests, the different parties involved are also actively looking at how they can recruit more into the ecosystem and that it will be an ongoing effort.

As for previously raised issues relating to a lack of supply of cabs for passengers at Changi Airport, Iswaran said: “The general assessment has been that the response has been good and generally managing well with demand.”

But, the situation is “dynamic” and “when passenger volume goes up, you have to basically see how flexibly we can respond. Whether we need to do more, whether we need further adjustments, this is something that we are constantly monitoring.”

CAG previously announced a surchage hike for taxi trips from the airport that will last from May 19 to Jun 30.