SINGAPORE – Changi Airport Group (CAG) said today it will be suspending operations at Terminal 2 for 18 months starting May based on the “steep decline in passenger traffic” and expectations of the slow return of air travel demand in the near term.
While the scale of our operations will be reduced in the near term, Changi Airport remains open to serve the airfreight and passenger flights that continue to operate. Even as our airport capacity is being optimised for the current situation, we will have the flexibility and we stand ready to ramp up operations quickly once the recovery takes place,– CAG’s EVP of airport management Tan Lye Teck
CAG said in a media release that the move will help the group and its airport partners “save on running costs such as utilities and cleaning” and “optimise resources across the airport’s terminals”.
During the period of suspension, airlines will be relocated to remaining terminals and
Ongoing expansion works will be accelerated and could be completed as early as one year ahead of its scheduled 2024 completion.
CAG is in discussion with airport partners and concessionaires in T2 regarding options available to them.
Operations at Terminal 4 have also been “scaled down considerably”, leaving a small number of aircraft boarding gates in use. Retail shops are allowed to close early after the last flight for the day.
CAG stated it is also considering the option to temporarily suspend T4’s operations should remaining airlines at the terminal “choose to suspend or adjust their flight schedule”.
But it intends only to pause operations until airlines are able to confirm they are resuming flight services, and expects to restart services “quickly”.
During this downturn, CAG and its partners intends to retrain and deploy airport staff in order to “protect as many jobs as possible”.
Ground handler SATS is sending staff for training courses to train them as airside drivers to support airlines.
CAG is partnering Certis Aviation Security to streamline and right size its operations such as the deployment of security officers at pre-boarding security screening stations and at access control points to restricted areas.
CAG’s EVP of airport management Tan Lye Teck said that its efforts are aimed at “helping our airport partners during this difficult time”.
“While the scale of our operations will be reduced in the near term, Changi Airport remains open to serve the airfreight and passenger flights that continue to operate. Even as our airport capacity is being optimised for the current situation, we will have the flexibility and we stand ready to ramp up operations quickly once the recovery takes place,” he added.