SINGAPORE. Changi Airport Group (CAG) has hailed the surge in inbound and outbound travel demand at Singapore Changi Airport, and noted the revival of commercial sales over recent months as more shops and restaurants have reopened.
While only Terminals 1 and 3 were serving passengers at the start of the year, Changi reopened Terminal 4 in September and the southern wing of Terminal 2 in October to cater to demand.
In its newly released review of the year, CAG added: “Travel retail sales have seen a revival, with liquor, perfumes & cosmetics and luxury products once again emerging as the top categories in Changi’s stores to date.
“Even with Chinese tourists, who were the biggest spenders during pre-Covid days, still absent from the travel retail scene in Changi, some brands are seeing sales surging past pre-pandemic levels.
“At the landside, all the shops in T1 and T3 are open to welcome both travellers and visitors. At the same time, Jewel Changi Airport has continuously refreshed its offerings, with both homegrown and international brands setting up shop at the nature-infused attraction.”
Among current campaign highlights, from late September to year end, CAG is running its inaugural World of Wines and Spirits (WOWS) in partnership with Lotte Duty Free. This showcases the acclaimed, exclusive and premium wines and spirits, featuring over 200 of the finest products from more than 75 brands, including first-in-the-region rarities from renowned labels like Bowmore, The Macallan, Midleton, The Singleton and Penfolds.
During the year, besides themed holiday activations such as Chupa Chups and Peanuts in March and May respectively, the airport also rolled out various dining promotions and shopping campaigns during festive periods to drive sales to support tenants operating in the airport’s public areas.
To cope with the increased number of travellers, CAG and its partners boosted staffing and training. CAG added: “For its continuous pursuit of service excellence to offer the best Changi Experience to passengers, Changi Airport was presented the Best Airport Staff award by Skytrax for the second year running.”
In the first ten months of 2022, Changi Airport welcomed 23.6 million passengers, representing 42% of pre-Covid-19 levels. In recent further signals of recovery, in October Changi Airport served 3.69 million passengers, representing about 65% of the number in October 2019.
As of the first week of December, 95 airlines operated over 5,500 weekly scheduled flights at Changi Airport, connecting Singapore to 140 cities in 48 countries and territories worldwide. This is 82% of Changi’s pre-Covid-19 connectivity.
For the first ten months of the year, Changi’s top five country markets were Australia, India, Indonesia, Malaysia and Thailand. The strongest passenger traffic recovery has come from North America, South Asia and Europe.
Passenger traffic to and from North America has rebounded strongly to exceed pre- pandemic levels. For the South Asia market, apart from re-establishing all pre-Covid city links, Changi added a new city link to Pune on 2 December 2022. For Europe, Changi has almost returned to pre-Covid level of flight frequencies.
In the past year, Changi Airport welcomed eight new airlines. These are a mix of full-service and low-cost carriers as well as freighter operators – Aircalin, Atlas Air, Bamboo Airways, Cambodia Airways, Citilink, HK Express, Thai Vietjet and T’way Air. It also added four new destinations to the network – Noumea (New Caledonia), Jeju (South Korea), Sibu (Malaysia) plus Pune, noted above.
With the reopening of its major terminals, Changi Airport has capacity to handle more than 70 million passenger movements a year. This exceeds the 68.3 million passenger movements of 2019. Popular facilities such as the Butterfly Garden in T3 and Sunflower Garden in T2 also reopened.
In February, Changi Airport launched new initiatives to better support passengers with invisible disabilities, such as autism spectrum disorder, Down syndrome, and dementia.
Aimed at creating a more stress-free and inclusive travel experience for these passengers, the initiatives include a customisable step-by-step airport guide (Changi Airport Social Story), having a pool of staff trained in identifying passenger with invisible disabilities, and being alert to special identifying lanyards, so these passengers can get help more easily and discreetly. The initiatives were developed by CAG in consultation with special needs schools and organisations.
In other initiatives, CAG is committed to advancing Changi Airport as a sustainable air hub. Besides committing to zero carbon growth until 2030 and capping absolute carbon emissions at 2018 levels, CAG strives towards a Net Zero aspiration by 2050 through the use of new technologies and the increased adoption of renewable energy.
CAG also enhanced its social media presence by launching the airport’s official TikTok account (tiktok.com/@changiairport) on 25 April. In the seven months since its launch, the channel has attracted over 56,000 (as of 1 December) followers, with over 100 short video content posted.
More than ten videos registered over 100,000 organic views and the most popular TikTok video garnered over eight million organic views and over 1.3 million engagements. Topics include behind-the-scenes airport stories, new developments in the airport, and tips and hacks for travellers.
