Nature is T2’s dominant design element, and the refurbished terminal has added 15,500 sq m to the airport space.
Credit: Changi Airport
Singapore: At Changi Airport, the holiday season is picking pace. The passengers and the non-travelling public are turning up in big numbers at the airport's retail and F&B spaces, spread over its four terminals and a mall built into one of them. The visitors appear to pause longer to take in the green aesthetic of the airport's nature-themed Terminal 2. With T2, the airport's operators have tried to break the structural monotony that marks many large airports and curate a sensory experience that complements the airport’s functionality as it prepares for passenger traffic at pre-pandemic levels.
Kelvin Ng, Vice President, corporate and marketing communications, Changi Airport, said the design draws on the repositioning of the passenger, as a tourist in transit. “The engineering and expansion works took over three and a half years. We brought forward the renovation because of Covid. We thought it was a good time to start working since the terminals were closed,” he said.
Nature is T2’s dominant design element. The terminal has an expansive spread of hanging and upstanding green structures, put together with more than 20,000 plants. Some of its more utilitarian elements, like the walls and carpets, are also themed around natural landforms. A 14-metre-tall digital display of a waterfall splashing on boulders, called The Wonderfall, has been a major new attraction at the terminal.
The refurbished terminal has added 15,500 sq m to the airport space. Changi handles about 90 million passengers per annum (mppa). It operates more than 6,400 weekly flights with close to 100 airlines, connecting Singapore to about 150 cities. Between July and September 2023, the airport registered 15.3 million passenger movements, which is 89% of the numbers it reported in the third quarter of 2019. “With the fifth terminal that is set for launch in the mid-2030s, the airport aims to increase its capacity to 140 mppa,” Kelvin said.
Expanded terminal, enhanced amenities
The T2 expansion included the creation of a central common-use fast and seamless travel (FAST) zone that has almost doubled the number of automated check-in kiosks and bag drop machines. T2 has added automated immigration lanes and is the first Changi terminal with automated special assistance lanes for persons with disabilities and children, at the arrival and departure immigration areas. A fully automated early baggage storage system, with a capacity to handle up to 2,400 bags, has been installed. Post-expansion, T2 is set to raise its passenger handling capacity to 28 mppa.
New retail and food and beverage stores have opened in the public and transit areas. At the duty-free wines and spirits outlet in the transit area, drinks are served by a robot bartender, Toni. Gourmet Garden, a dining area with views of the apron, houses outlets that serve diverse cuisines and has on the spread some signature Singapore dishes and beverages.
Singapore reopened its borders after the pandemic in April 2022. The traffic pick-up since the reopening caught the airport operators by surprise. T2 was opened in phases, starting May 2022; it became fully operational with the opening of its northern wing, in October 2023. The terminal has flights operated by 16 airlines, connecting 40 cities.
India among top markets
When the airport resumed operations, Indians were among the first to come on board. India joins Indonesia, Malaysia, Australia, and Thailand in Changi’s list of top passenger markets. Seven airlines – Air India, Air India Express, Drukair, IndiGo, Scoot, Singapore Airlines, and Vistara – operate 285 weekly services from the airport to 17 Indian cities; Pune and Bhubaneswar are the latest additions. The airport’s operators are in talks with Indian carriers to bring back links to cities that were dropped during the pandemic.
Passenger traffic to and from India between January and September 2023 was over 3.5 million; the figure was around 4.8 million in 2019 (entire year). The corresponding figures for Bengaluru are 3.39 lakh and 5.67 lakh, respectively.
Under the provisions of the Visa Free Transit Facility (VFTF), Indian nationals in transit to or from another country via Singapore are eligible for a 96-hour stay in Singapore. The VFTF facility for Indian nationals is limited to travellers with a valid visa to eight select countries: Australia, Canada, Germany, Japan, New Zealand, Switzerland, the UK, and the US.
(The correspondent was in Singapore at the invitation of Changi Airport)