Changi Airport T5 construction to be 'paused' for at least 2 years, says Khaw

[SINGAPORE] The mega Changi Airport Terminal 5 project will be paused for at least two years amid uncertainty about how the Covid-19 pandemic will change the aviation sector, Transport Minister Khaw Boon Wan said on Tuesday.

He said that the government is currently carrying out a study of how the aviation sector will change, and that the design of T5 will be changed to take into account new safety requirements.

Mr Khaw was speaking to 12 scholarship holders from the Ministry of Transport and its agencies during an online meeting.

Also present at the meeting was the permanant secretary for transport Loh Ngai Seng and other top officials from the Land Transport Authority, the Maritime and Port Authority of Singapore, and the Civil Aviation Authority of Singapore.

The aviation sector worldwide has been hard hit by the Covid-19 pandemic, with travel restrictions and fear of the virus leading to plunging travel demand.

Changi Airport and local airlines have been hard hit as well.

In April, Changi Airport handled 25,200 passenger movements, a 99.5 per cent drop from the same time last year.

In response, Changi Airport Group has shut down T2 for 18 months to facilitate upgrading works. It has also temporarily closed T4.

T5 was scheduled to be completed around 2030. It covers a land area equivalent to about 667 football fields, and was earmarked to provide future capacity for the airport to ride on the projected growth in air travel.

It was to handle up to 50 million passengers per year in its initial phase.

This, along with the T2's upgrading works, would have brought Changi Airport's total passenger handling capacity to around 140 million passengers per year.

Trade and Industry Minister Chan Chun Sing had said in a national address on Sunday that Singapore's major infrastructure projects, including Changi T5, will be completed, even though timelines may shift.

THE STRAITS TIMES