SINGAPORE. Singapore-based budget airlines Jetstar Asia and Valuair have decided not to use Changi Airport’s Budget Terminal, according to reports by Agence France Presse and The Straits Times.
“CAAS was in discussion with Jetstar and Valuair to operate from the Budget Terminal. They have recently informed us that they will continue to operate in Terminal One,” a CAAS spokesperson told news agency Agence France Presse.
Jetstar Asia and Valuair merged last July. Jetstar is 49% owned by Australia’s Qantas.
Singaporean national newspaper The Straits Times reported that the airlines were prepared to operate out of the Budget Terminal to cut costs but a survey of 3,000 passengers led to a change in thinking. “An overwhelming majority said ‘No’ to moving to the Budget Terminal,” Chong Phit Lian, Chief Executive Officer of Orangestar Holdings, the parent company of the merged carriers, was quoted as saying.
“Assigned seating was also very high on their priority list. The customer must come first so it’s Terminal One for us,” she said.
The news will be a disappointment not only to the Civil Aviation Authority of Singapore but also to the Budget Terminal Food & Beverage operators and retailers – including DFS Group, Nuance-Watson (Singapore), King Power (Hong Kong) and Times Newslink.
Changi’s S$27.8 million Budget Terminal opened in March with an initial capacity for 2.7 million passengers rising to five million after expansion. Tiger Airways, another Singapore-based low-cost carrier, is the only airline using the facility to date.
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