Singapore Changi Airport served 4.68m passengers in August 2013, an increase of 9.4% year-on-year and air traffic movements grew correspondingly, with a total of 29,600 landings and take-offs recorded during the month, or 8.2% more compared to a year ago.

 

According to the airport operator, travel demand during the month was boosted by an extra long weekend that included both the Hari Raya Puasa and National Day public holidays in Singapore.

 

Changi opened new stores in August including the first Furla and Tory Burch boutiques in Terminal 1 (transit area). “Trendy scarves can be found at the new Pashma store in Terminal 1 (transit), its third in Changi and for the latest range of electronic gadgets, check out the E-Gadget Extra shop in Terminal 1 (transit),” says Changi.

 

The operator also opened a new Wellness Spa in Terminal 2 (transit) and over in the public areas, supermarket chain NTUC Fairprice opened its second outlet at Changi Airport, located at the Terminal 2 Basement.

 

[Above: Furla’s first boutique at Changi Airport]

 

DOUBLE-DIGIT GROWTH FROM CHINA AND JAPAN

Travel to and from neighbouring countries such as Indonesia and Malaysia, which also celebrated the Hari Raya festival, registered particularly strong growth.

 

There was also a double-digit increase in traffic between Singapore and China as well as Japan.

 

On a rolling year basis, passenger traffic and aircraft movements grew to 53m (+6.6% on-year) and 336,100 (+5.2%) respectively.

 

As at 1 September 2013, more than 100 airlines operate at Changi Airport, connecting Singapore to 250 cities in some 60 countries and territories worldwide. With more than 6,700 weekly scheduled flights, an aircraft takes off or lands at Changi roughly once every 100 seconds.

 

NEW SERVICES TO INDONESIA

“Several carriers have continued to take advantage of the new bilateral air services agreement between Singapore and Indonesia to mount additional services in August and September,” said Changi Airport.

 

Garuda Indonesia added a ninth daily service to Jakarta and up-gauged two of its frequencies from the smaller Boeing 737-800 to the bigger Airbus 330.

 

Tigerair Mandala also increased its Singapore-Jakarta services from three to four times a day. With now close to 60,000 weekly one-way seats, the Singapore-Jakarta route has become the fastest growing and second busiest international route in the world.

 

To other parts of Indonesia, SilkAir has introduced a thrice-weekly service to Makassar while AirAsia has launched two daily services to Medan. Tigerair has also started a daily service to Bandung, a new route for the airline.

 

To serve passengers and visitors from the world over, there are over 350 retail stores and 120 F&B outlets across the airport’s three terminals. Changi handled more than 51 million passenger movements in 2012, an annual record. Today, it serves some 110 airlines flying to over 250 cities in about 60 countries and territories worldwide. A flight takes off or lands at Changi roughly once every 100 seconds.