Singapore Changi Airport handled a record 54.1m passengers in 2014 (+0.7%), with Indonesia the top destination in 2014 (+7.5m pax), followed by Malaysia, Australia, Thailand and China.

 

While the total passenger increase was marginal in 2014, the passenger total was still the best in Changi’s 33-year old history, as cargo volumes stabilised at 1.84m tonnes and flight movements fell slightly by 0.7% to 341,390.

 

Changi Airport’s busiest 24-hour period last year was the Saturday before Christmas (20 December 2014), with 186,500 passengers.

 

In total, the airport ended December with a total of 5.09m passenger movements (-0.7% on-year), 158,600 tonnes of cargo (+1.4%) as well as 29,710 landings and takeoffs (-3.9%) for the month.

 

The good news was that travel to and from Thailand (+6.6%) and ‘China (+1.0%) continued to show signs of recovery in December , which was notably the third consecutive month of passenger traffic growth for both countries.

 

 

THAI MARKET TRAFFIC IS BACK

In Thailand’s case, the Changi Airport Group (CAG) reports that seat capacities and flight frequencies to Bangkok were also back to their to their comparative end of 2013 levels – before the country’s business and tourism traffic was negatively affected by political difficulties.

 

The overall traffic performance at Changi is in line with its earlier expectations of a slowdown, traffic to South Asia and the Northeast Asia regions still rose by 6.0% and 4.0% respectively, although CAG also points to a weaker performance on European and Southeast Asian routes.

 

 

In terms of Changi’s busiest routes, the top 10 destinations remained unchanged with Jakarta, Hong Kong, Kuala Lumpur, Bangkok and Manila taking the top five spots. For the second year in a row, Denpasar-Bali was the fastest growing among the top 10 routes, enjoying a robust 15.7% growth on-year.

 

Changi Airport welcomed six new carriers in 2014. The arrival of MIAT Mongolian Airlines and Uzbekistan Airways enhanced Changi’s connectivity to Central Asia, with the launch of new services to Ulaanbaatar and Tashkent respectively.

 

Jetstar Pacific, Malindo Air, Tigerair Taiwan and VietJet rounded up the list of new additions to Changi’s family of airlines.

 

NEW SERVICES TO CHINA, JAPAN, VIETNAM AND THE US…

Changi also added new services to Lanzhou and Xi’an in China, Okinawa in Japan, Seattle in the United States and Phu Quoc in Vietnam, bringing last year’s total number of new destinations to seven.

 

Commenting on the performance, CAG CEO Mr Lee Seow Hiang said: “2014 was a challenging year for the aviation industry, especially in Southeast Asia. Several unforeseen events depressed travel demand, creating a difficult operating environment for many airlines in the region.

 

 

“CAG responded quickly to the external situation, by introducing the Growth and Assistance Incentive (GAIN) programme to provide temporary cost relief for our airline partners, as well as to encourage them to collaborate with us to explore new ideas to stimulate passenger traffic, or boost operational efficiency at Changi Airport.

 

“The spirit of innovation that has driven our development plans for Jewel Changi Airport and Terminal 4 will continue to underpin our strategy to anchor Changi Airport’s position as a world-class destination for all our passengers to enjoy.

 

“We are hopeful that 2015 will be a better year for aviation in the region. Travel demand is recovering steadily for markets like Thailand and China. Lower fuel costs will also help to alleviate cost pressures for airlines.

 

“The new year has started on a positive note for Changi Airport, with Air New Zealand commencing its services to Singapore on 6 January. As we announce more new airlines and destinations in the coming months, we stand ready to work with our airline and industry partners to capture growth opportunities and strengthen Changi Airport’s air hub position.”

 

[All images and infographics courtesy of the Changi Airport Group].