Singapore Changi Airport to reopen terminals to meet demand

Singapore’s Changi Airport will reopen two of its terminals that were shuttered due to Covid-19 as travel springs back faster than expected. Terminal 4 will reopen in September and departure operations in the southern wing of Terminal 2 will restart from October, Changi Airport Group (Singapore) Pte said in a statement Friday. The added capacity will allow the airport to better cope with an influx of passengers in the northern hemisphere winter. Singapore is welcoming travelers again after it removed all quarantine and testing rules for fully-vaccinated people in early April. Singapore Airlines Ltd. aims to be operating at 67% of its pre-Covid capacity by September. While Terminals 1 and 3 have been operating during Covid, Terminals 2 and 4 were shut. One of Terminal 2’s halls was reopened in late May. With passenger traffic reaching 48% of pre-pandemic levels in the first week of June, more airlines are asking for flights, according to Changi’s statement. “This growth trajectory will continue, the momentum will be sustained,” Singapore Transport Minister S. Iswaran said at a briefing at the airport Friday. The reopening of the terminals will bring annual operating capacity to as high as 70m passengers, he added. Last month, he said passenger traffic at Changi was already near 50% of what it was before the pandemic, a target the government previously only expected to reach later in 2022. Singapore has also resumed plans for construction of a fifth terminal, with building work expected to start in two to three years.<br/>