Changi Airport has used the quiet pandemic time to expand Terminal 2, and it will reopen on May 29 to be ready for peak traffic in June.
With Singapore’s COVID restrictions now virtually a thing of the past, Changi airport has announced that it will progressively reopen Terminal 2 after two years of expansion works.
One of the world’s busiest hubs, Singapore Changi Airport (SIN), commenced upgrading Terminal 2 as the pandemic took hold in May 2020. The airport manager, Changi Airport Group (CAG), announced that T2 operations would resume on May 29. This is the first phase of the terminal’s reopening as the airport prepares to meet expected traffic increases in the months ahead. When the expansion is completed by 2024, Terminal 2’s capacity will increase by five million to 28 million passenger movements annually.
The international airlines are back in town
This reopening of an upgraded Terminal 2 will be music to the ears of Changi’s regular users, including Singapore Airlines, Scoot and Jetstar Asia. Some International airlines that have resumed Singapore flights include Emirates, Qantas, British Airways, KLM Airlines, Finnair, Turkish Airlines and SWISS International. Regional operators include AirAsia, Vistara, Malindo Air, IndiGo, VietJet and Garuda Indonesia.
Singapore Airlines and Changi Airport have grown hand-in-hand, and today the airport is home to Singapore Airlines’ fleet of 151 aircraft. According to ch-aviation.com, the fleet is almost entirely made up of widebodies, including 59 Airbus A350s, 17 A380s, 29 Boeing B777 and 15 B787 aircraft.
When Terminal 2 reopens, passengers will see upgraded arrival immigration baggage claim belts, and contact gates at the southern wing of the terminal will be ready for flight operations. The Arrival Immigration Hall has been enlarged, and more automated immigration lanes and special assistance lanes have been added. Singaporeans and residents need to enroll their iris and facial biometrics with the Immigration and Checkpoints Authority to use the automated lanes. Eligible foreign visitors who have done the same on their arrival in Singapore can also use the automated lanes.
Biometrics are the solution in Changi T2 Arrival Hall
As the number of enrolled passengers grows, Changi will add more automated lanes to meet the demand. The special assistance lanes are wider than conventional lanes, allowing passengers with mobility aids, as well as big family groups, to clear immigration more easily. There will be three collection belts in the baggage claim hall, with one that has been lengthened to handle more bags.
CAG EVP of airport management, Tan Lye Teck, said the group is encouraged to see the strong pickup in travel and has worked closely with its partners to bring forward the progressive reopening of T2 ahead of the June travel peak.
“The start of flight operations at T2 will provide more capacity to support our airline partners, who are also gearing up to serve more passengers in the months ahead. T2 will reopen in phases over the next two years to support Changi’s recovery as a regional air hub.”
In 2019 Changi airport handled 68.3 million passenger movements, in 2020 11.8 million and in 2021 just 3.1 million passenger movements. By the end of April it had handled 4.5 million passenger movements, and now that borders are reopened that will climb rapidly as the year progresses. It has been a smart move to get T2 upgraded during the pandemic, and by doing so Changi has prepared well for the recovery in international traffic.
Source: Simple Flying
