Changi airport is riding high on the recovery wave with passenger traffic at 4.6 million in December 2022, almost 72% of the pre-pandemic level of 2019. The airport handled around 1.1 million passengers from December 12, 2022 to December 18, 2022, approximately 82% of the weekly average in 2019 marking the busiest week of the year.
For the full year, the airport handled 32.2 million passengers in 2022, or about half of the traffic in 2019, Changi Airport Group (CAG) said in a statement.
South-east Asia recorded a new high of two million passenger movements in December 2022, last year following the region’s reopening, reaching over 75% of traffic in 2019.
In South Korea, passenger traffic also exceeded pre-Covid levels last December, driven partly by additional capacity on new airlines and routes.
The Changi airport established four new passenger city links and eight new airlines, of which seven were passenger airlines and one freighter operator.
Lim Ching Kiat, executive vice-president of air hub and cargo development, said: “The reopening of Terminals 2 and 4 has also helped cater to the strong travel demand.”
Australia, Malaysia, Indonesia, India and Thailand were the top traffic markets in 2022. Meanwhile, Kuala Lumpur, Bangkok and Jakarta were Changi Airport’s three busiest routes in 2022, which is similar to 2019.
The airport will also be welcoming more flights in the coming months, for example, new flights from Addis Ababa by Ethiopian Airlines in March, said CAG.
Meanwhile, aircraft movements in December last year reached 76% of pre-pandemic levels at 25,4000. For the full year, it recorded 219,000, or 57.2% of 2019 levels.
Cargo flows in 2022 also dipped against the backdrop of economic uncertainty and inflationary pressures. Changi’s top five air cargo markets for the year were, in order, China, Australia, US, Hong Kong and Japan.
“Notwithstanding near-term challenges such as global economic uncertainty and inflationary pressures, we are confident that we will be able to progressively restore Changi Airport’s connectivity and traffic to pre-Covid levels,” Lim added.
As at the first week of January this year, airport activity reached 82% of pre-Covid connectivity.