Passenger traffic at Changi Airport is expected to return to pre-pandemic levels by 2024, or possibly earlier, said Transport Minister S. Iswaran.
Speaking at the parliament session, Iswaran informed the House that passenger traffic volumes, flights and city links at Changi are now at about 80 per cent of pre-Covid-19 levels, while flights at Seletar Airport have recovered fully since January 2023.
In 2019, a total of 68.3 million passengers passed through Changi Airport, with 382,000 commercial flights taking off or landing at the airport.
Passenger traffic fell to a low of 0.5% of the total during the pandemic in 2020.
"We are expecting Chinese and Singapore airlines to resume more services in the coming months," he added.
Changi Airport has already restored 90% of its pre-pandemic workforce capacity and will restore full capacity by the end of the year.
The construction work of Changi Airport Terminal 5(T5) is expected to start in 2025 and the terminal will be open for commercial use around 2030, informed S. Iswaran while giving an update on the expansion work. The terminal T5 will serve 50 million passengers a year, more than T1 and T3 combined.
Iswaran also said land preparation and drainage works at Changi East have been completed, and the third runway will also be ready towards the later part of this decade.
The project was put on pause for two years due to the pandemic.
The Government of Singapore will infuse further S$2bn into the Changi Airport Development fund. In 2018 that the Government had earlier injected about $4 billion.
“To anticipate the growth in flights and passengers at Changi Airport in the run-up to T5, Changi Airport Group and airport stakeholders have worked out operational plans,” Iswaran added.
Meanwhile, the Government of Singapore is also planning to establish a S$50 million Aviation Sustainability Programme. Civil Aviation Authority of Singapore (CAAS) said that the programme will provide up to 70% funding for sector-wide projects and up to 50% funding for company-level projects.