Singapore’s Changi Airport sets quicker check-ins in new terminal

Your next business trip to Singapore could see you breezing even more quickly through checkpoints at the world’s best airport as early as next month.

Changi Airport will start operating its newest Terminal 4 on Oct. 31, featuring automated check-in kiosks with facial-recognition software and the use of tomography scanners, which allow laptops to remain in bags during security screening. Cathay Pacific Airways Ltd.’s CX659 is scheduled to be the first flight to arrive at 5:40 a.m. local time, the airport said in a statement Wednesday.

Singapore is among Asian cities including Seoul and Beijing that are expanding airport capacity as economic growth in the region boosts travel demand. The so-called T4 will increase Changi Airport’s total capacity by almost a quarter from 66 million travelers. Singapore is also building a fifth terminal that will double the current passenger capacity when construction is completed in the 2020s.

Korean Air Lines Co. will begin offering flights from T4 on Oct. 31 as well. Cebu Air, Inc. and Spring Airlines Co. will start operating there Nov. 2, and AirAsia Group and Vietnam Airlines on Nov. 7, Changi Airport said.

Air travelers picked Changi Airport as the world’s best for a fifth straight year in 2017, according to a ranking by Skytrax. Tokyo’s Haneda airport and Seoul’s Incheon placed second and third, respectively. (Bloomberg)