Singapore to build budget terminal
Singapore to build budget terminal
Bernice Han, Agence France-Presse, Singapore
Singapore's Changi airport will build Asia's first dedicated
low-cost airline terminal to cash in on the region's booming no-
frills aviation industry, airport authorities said on Tuesday.
The single-storey terminal is expected to be ready by early
2006 and have an initial handling capacity of 2.7 million
passengers a year, the Civil Aviation Authority of Singapore
(CAAS) said.
Costs for airlines and passengers will be about 20 percent
lower than at Changi's major terminals, CAAS deputy director of
airport management Foo Sek Min told reporters.
To keep costs down, there will be no travelators, escalators
or aerobridges, meaning passengers will do a lot more walking
than at other regular airports.
"The focus of this terminal will be really on low running and
maintenance costs," Foo said.
"It will focus on functional facilities and services. That
means we are talking about necessities ... things that are really
needed in operating the terminal."
However Foo stressed that regular facilities such as duty free
shops, eateries and money changing outlets would be available.
Foo said the decision to build the terminal was made after
Tiger Airways, a local budget carrier due to start flying late
this year, committed last week to using it.
"We are proceeding with this low-cost terminal because there
is a customer," Foo said, adding authorities were in talks with
two other airlines.
Foo said the terminal, which CAAS described as the first in
Asia dedicated solely to low-cost carriers, was also being built
to ensure Singapore remained a key player in the region's booming
budget airline industry.
"Currently we have 70 airlines offering more than 3,000 weekly
flights and we want to facilitate the operations of all airlines
in Singapore, including low-cost carriers," Foo said.
"It is part of the efforts to grow Singapore's status as an
aviation hub."
Two other budget airlines, Malaysia's AirAsia and Singapore's
Valuair, are already flying in and out of Singapore using
Changi's major terminals, while a Qantas-dominated venture also
intends to begin operations soon.
Foo said the terminal would be built with a modular design,
meaning it can be expanded easily when more airlines decide to
use it.
"The terminal size can be expanded to cater for more
passengers as the traffic grows over the years. Similarly more
parking bays can be put in to cater for the (different) type of
aircraft," he said.
Tiger Airways, which the Singapore government is heavily
involved in, is due to hold a press conference on Wednesday to
outline its plans.
The government's investment arm, Temasek Holdings, is the
majority shareholder in Singapore Airlines, which in turn owns 49
percent of Tiger Airways. Temasek has another separate 11 percent
stake in Tiger.
AirAsia, Asia's most successful no-frills carrier, began a
Singapore-Bangkok route this year and has expressed its desire to
set up a permanent base here to expand operations.
Valuair flies to Bangkok, Jakarta and Hong Kong, and has also
said it intends to add more routes.
Australia's Qantas announced in April it was teaming up with
Temasek and two Singaporean businessmen to launch another
Singapore-based no-frills operation.