Changi Airport posts strong growth in passenger and cargo throughput in 2017

January 23, 2018: Singapore Changi Airport posted a strong performance in 2017, for handling a record 62.2 million passenger movements, up by six percent with 373,200 landings, and take-offs up by 3.5 percent. Its airfreight throughput also grew by 7.9 percent, crossing the 2-million tonnes mark for the first time, to reach 2.13 million tonnes during the year.

December was once again the busiest month of the year, with Changi Airport handling 5.86 million passenger movements ( 3.3 percent), 32,960 aircraft movements ( 3.1 percent) and 188,740 tonnes of airfreight throughput ( 6.4 percent).

The busiest day of the year was December 22, when 208,043 passengers passed through Changi's terminals%u2014which is a record for the airport.

In 2017, traffic across all regions witnessed a positive growth, with Southeast and Northeast Asia contributing to about 70 percent of total traffic. Among Changi's top 10 country markets, China and India led with a robust double-digit growth of 12 percent and 16 percent, respectively.

Among Changi Airport's busiest routes, Kuala Lumpur ( 7 percent) replaced Jakarta as Changi's top city link for 2017. Among Changi Airport's top 20 destinations, Guangzhou was the fastest growing ( 15 percent), while Brisbane, Penang and Phuket recorded growth of at least six percent.

During the year, Changi Airport welcomed three passenger airlines%u2014Hebei Airlines, Norwegian and US-Bangla Airlines into its family of over 100 airlines.

Ten new passenger city links were also established, including%u2014China (Harbin, Shijiazhuang, Yantai), Greece (Athens), India (Madurai), Japan (Hiroshima, Okinawa), Malaysia (Bintulu), Sweden (Stockholm) and USA (Honolulu).

Similarly, growth was observed for airfreight throughput across imports ( 8 percent), exports ( 14 percent) and transshipments ( 4 percent).

The top five country markets for airfreight were China, Australia, Hong Kong, the United States and India.

Changi Airport Group also formalised the Pharma Changi initiative in October 2017, along with nine other partners from across each node of the supply chain. Under this initiative, companies will jointly pursue the best standards in pharmaceuticals handling, and promote Singapore Changi Airport as a trusted and reliable pharmaceuticals air cargo hub in the region.

Early last year, Changi Airport also became the first airport community in Asia Pacific to attain the IATA CEIV Pharma certification.

The opening of SATS' new E-commerce AirHub in April also enhances Changi's e-commerce mail sorting capability to support the growing e-commerce market with its state-of-the art automated airside e-commerce mail sortation facility.

There are more passengers who travel on multiple transport modes on their journeys. To cater to these emerging passenger segments, including fly-cruise and fly-ferry, CAG worked closely with our partners to offer more travel options.

In 2017, a new shuttle service was launched to facilitate transfers between Changi Airport and Tanah Merah Ferry Terminal, which has seen a ridership of close to 10,000 passengers in its seven months of operations.

To grow the fly-cruise market, CAG also signed various collaborations with cruise companies, which are expected to bring in more than 600,000 visitors over a four-year period.

Transfer and transit passengers continue to be an important segment for Changi Airport. Under the ongoing Changi Transit Programme, about 700,000 passengers claimed transit rewards while shopping in Changi in 2017. CAG has also continued efforts with its partners to grow the MICE segment in Singapore.

Meanwhile, Changi Airport clinched 26 Best Airport awards in 2017, bringing the total to 557 to date. It includes the World's Best Airport accolade at the 2017 Skytrax World Airport Awards%u2014an award which Changi achieved for the fifth year in a row and the eighth time in its history.

Changi also received Business Traveller UK's %u2018Best Airport in the World' award for the 30th consecutive year.

Lim Ching Kiat, CAG's managing director, air hub development said: "2017 was a significant year for Changi Airport, as we saw strong growth in both passenger traffic and cargo throughput, resulting in record numbers. We also opened the new tech-friendly terminal-4, which served 1.3 million passengers within its first two months of operations. With the establishment of new city links to many parts of the world, and the launch of a number of non-stop long haul routes, we have also expanded our connectivity, providing greater convenience for our passengers."

"Looking ahead in 2018, we expect to see more developments in the long-haul segments to Europe. It includes Scoot's non-stop service to Berlin, and LOT Polish Airlines' new service connecting Singapore and Warsaw. We will also welcome the return of Qantas' Singapore-London route and an overall increase in seat capacity between Singapore and Australia, as well as Lufthansa's resumption of its service to Munich. At the same time, we will continue our efforts to strengthen our connectivity to secondary cities in China and India%u2014our fastest growing markets in 2017," said Kiat.

Demand for air travel in the Asia-Pacific is expected to triple in the next two decades. With the opening of Jewel Changi Airport and the completion of Changi's terminal-1 expansion in 2019, Changi Airport's total handling capacity will increase to 85 million passengers per annum. It will help secure Changi Airport as a leading air hub with sufficient capacity to ride on the projected growth in air traffic in the region.