Changi Airport sees 7.9 per cent year-on-year rise in passenger traffic in August

SINGAPORE — August was a good month for Singapore Changi Airport with passenger traffic, aircraft take-offs and landings, and airfreight all seeing a rise in volume, compared with the same period last year.

Changi Airport registered 5.68 million passenger movements last month, which is a 7.9 per cent year-on-year increase, the Changi Airport Group (CAG) said on Friday (Sept 21). Aircraft movements rose by 3.6 per cent, with 32,890 landings and takeoffs, while airfreight increased 1.8 per cent to reach 184,000 tonnes.

Passenger traffic for the month saw "growth across all regions", CAG said. Its data showed that the boost can be attributed to traffic to and from Oceania (10 per cent rise) — a double-digit increase for the first time this year, with over 570,000 passenger movements — Europe (22 per cent) and South Asia (13 per cent).

Meanwhile, nine of Changi's top 10 major city routes recorded traffic growth, with Melbourne (16 per cent rise), Sydney (13 per cent) and Manila (12 per cent) among the cities whose route traffic grew by double digits.

Currently, more than 100 airlines operate at Changi Airport, connecting Singapore to some 400 cities in about 100 countries and territories worldwide. According to CAG, an aircraft takes off or lands at Changi roughly once every 80 seconds.

New Services at Changi Airport

• SF Airlines (weekly services from Shenzhen, China started Sept 4) — the first Chinese express airline to launch freighter services between Singapore and China, increasing capacity on the Singapore-Shenzhen route by 16 per cent

• IndiGo (daily services from Kolkata and Tiruchirapalli, India started Sept 15) — the airline's first services from the two cities to Singapore, bringing the number of Indian cities connected to Changi to 16 cities.