Singapore to build $1.07b terminal for super jumbos
Singapore to build $1.07b terminal for super jumbos
SINGAPORE (AFP): The Singapore government announced yesterday it would soon start work on a modern third airport terminal capable of handling the 600-seat "super jumbos" of the 21st century.
Changi airport's Terminal 3, estimated to cost S$1.5 billion (US$1.07 billion), would start operating in 2004, Communication Minister Mah Bow Tan said at an annual aviation industry reception.
Detailed design work would start next year and the terminal's construction would be carried out between 1999 and 2003.
Changi, whose two existing terminals are expected to reach full capacity within a decade, is already rated in the aviation industry as one of the world's best airports, and is Southeast Asia's premier aviation hub.
Terminal 3 will be designed to handle 20 million passengers a year, bringing the total capacity of Changi airport to 64 million.
"To maintain Changi's position as a premier hub airport, and to enable us to continue to offer outstanding service to our airport users, the government has decided to start work on Terminal 3 before full capacity is reached in Terminals 1 and 2," Mah said.
The airport handled 23 million passengers last year, of whom seven million came in as visitors to strategically located Singapore, which has air links to 133 cities in 56 countries, making it a convenient connecting point.
Mah said the Civil Aviation Authority of Singapore (CAAS), which runs Changi, was also considering building an airport hotel for crew and passengers as part of Terminal 3.
The new terminal would also be prepared for electronic ticketing, and an efficient "people mover system" would link all three terminals, creating a "total airport city" at Changi, Mah said.
"Terminal 3 will be an exciting project worthy of Changi airport's world-class reputation. It will have state-of-the-art facilities and systems. These will include aircraft stands for new generation aircraft, such as the 600-seater super jumbos," he said.
Boeing Co. of the United States and its European rival Airbus Industrie are now at work on competing super jumbos.
Boeing is expected to be first on the market early in the next decade with a stretch version of its venerable B747, while Airbus is at work on a totally new model, codenamed the "A3XX" project. Both are looking at Asia as a primary market for the mammoth aircraft.
The Asia-Pacific region is forecast to handle 400 million passengers yearly or over half the world's total by 2010, from 122 million passengers or one-third of global traffic in 1993.
Spending on 16 current Asian airport projects now exceeds US$ 50 billion, according to the Geneva-based Air Transport Action Group, but even this may not be enough to meet the anticipated travel and trade boom.
Aviation experts say the super jumbos will require new aircraft handling facilities as well as larger and more efficient terminals to handle heavier passenger and baggage traffic from large-capacity carriers.
Fire and other emergency equipment would also need to be improved to cope with the super jumbos, which experts regard as massive fuel tankers capable of wreaking great havoc in a disaster.
Better road and rail links between Asian airports and cities also need to be built.
Singapore announced last week that it was extending its subway system all the way to Changi. The line is expected to be operational in five years.