Changi airport expands to meet traffic boom

Changi airport expands to meet traffic boom

SINGAPORE (AFP): Singapore's Changi airport passenger traffic
is expected to double while airfreight volume trebles in the next
12 years, forcing a major expansion program, a senior official
said yesterday.

Growth in passenger and cargo traffic in Singapore
respectively averaged a robust 9.1 percent and 12.3 percent
annually over the last 10 years, said John Chen, Minister of
State for Communications.

"In 1996, Changi airport handled 24.5 million passenger
movements and 1.2 million tons of airfreight. In 12 years' time,
passenger traffic is expected to double and airfreight treble,"
Chen said as he opened a three-day regional conference and
exhibition on airports.

But Singapore was well prepared to meet the rosy growth
forecasts in air traffic, he added.

The plans include expansion of current facilities and a third
passenger terminal with capacity of 20 million passengers by
2004.

Work is also under way on a fifth cargo building, costing S$75
million (US$53.57 million), which will add 35,000 square meters
(376,600 square feet) or 50 percent more space by early 1998.

Other facilities proposed include a new airport hotel for
passengers on transit at Changi. There are currently some 100
hotel rooms in restricted areas of the two airport terminals.

While ample airport capacity was vital, Chen said new
infrastructures and systems that could raise airport productivity
and output while minimizing operating costs were equally crucial.

"Airport systems and equipment manufacturers will have to
continuously improve their products to make air travel and air
freight more cost-effective, efficient, flexible and user-
friendly," he said.

Chen said the Asia-Pacific region had been earmarked as the
fastest growing hub for air traffic in the next decade, with many
Asian countries embarking on extensive airport projects to cater
to the projected boom.

The International Air Transport Association (IATA) has
forecast that international scheduled passenger traffic in Asia
Pacific will grow at an average of 7.4 percent yearly up to 2010.

"This is significantly higher than the rest of the world which
will grow at an average of 4.4 percent per annum," Chen said.

IATA has projected that the region will account for 400
million passengers yearly or half the global total by 2010, from
over 122 million passengers or 35 percent of world traffic in
1995.

The world's most expensive airports are already found in the
region, topped by Hong Kong's 20-billion-US dollar Chep Lap Kok
project.

Japan's new Kansai airport built on reclaimed land off Osaka
cost 15 billion dollars while a third airport serving Tokyo could
cost 23 billion to 35 billion dollars, officials said.

In China, some 20 new international airports are to open over
the next decade while new international airports are also under
construction or being planned in Kuala Lumpur, Bangkok, Seoul,
Sydney and Bombay.