Business Traveller (Asia-Pacific)
THINK BIGGER
What’s ahead for Singapore’s premier air facility? John Church takes a look
Voted number one airport in the BTAP annual awards, Singapore’s international hub has grand plans to stay on top
Planning ahead is embedded in the Singaporean psyche, and nowhere is this more evident than at the city-state’s front door – Changi Airport, a shining example of long-term development in anyone’s book.
Back in 1975, when the decision to build Changi was made, planners included large parcels of reclaimed land that have since lain fallow awaiting development options. Terminal 1 opened on July 1, 1981, followed by T2 in 1991 and T3 in 2008.
The airport was corporatised the following year and Changi Airport Group formed, which subsidises airport operations from the profits it makes from retail. CAG chief executive officer Lee Seow Hiang says that despite a challenging operating environment in the 2014/15 financial year, Changi Airport maintained passenger traffic of 54 million for the year.
“Net operating revenue grew 2 per cent to more than S$2 billion (US$1.4 billion), boosted mainly by healthy growth in concession revenue, which helped to mitigate weaker aeronautical revenue due to a series of rebates extended to the airlines,” he says. “The increase in concession revenue is the outcome of our continuing focus to improve the shopping experience at Changi. New concepts such as the Wines & Spirits duplex store, the introduction of exciting cosmetics and perfumes brands by The Shilla Duty Free and regular renewal of our retail mix have stimulated sales in our stores.”
Changi currently has two runways and is working on a third. Terminal 4 is under construction and nearing completion, while a massive fifth terminal referred to as Changi East is planned into the next decade.
The airport has a capacity for 66 million passengers a year. Built on the site of the old budget airline terminal, Terminal 4 will open in 2017 and add a further capacity of 16 million. T4 will showcase Changi’s self-service FAST (Fast and Seamless Travel) system.
Then there is Jewel, a multi-use lifestyle concept designed by Moshe Safdie (the man behind Marina Bay Sands) scheduled for completion in 2018 and into operation in early 2019. With its man-made rain vortex, enormous indoor forest and jawdropping architecture, Jewel was built for big-ticket icon status.
Together with Changi East, the airport is implementing its three-runway system. T5 will be capable of handling 50 million passengers and all terminals and runways will operate as an integrated system with full connectivity for passengers, for example landing at T5 and connecting at T2. The target for completion is the middle of next decade. The three-runway system will be complete by the early 2020s, and the fifth terminal a few years later.
“Our immediate capacity challenge is with runway capacity,” says Ivan Tan, senior vice president, corporate and marketing at Changi Airport Group (CAG). “With terminals we still have quite a bit of capacity. With the runways we are approaching a level where three will be a lot more comfortable.
“Runway three is military at the moment, and it will have to be extended. But the real challenging work is to connect this, because a plane landing at runway three may still have to move to T3, so it’s a whole network of taxiways that have to be constructed.”
To complicate matters, the current site of Changi has a public road that would dissect the upgraded airport, splitting Terminals 1, 2, 3 and 4 from Changi East. The road, Changi Coast Rd, has to be diverted to where the new coast is now, post reclamation.
“So extending the runway itself is not an issue, it’s connecting it to the rest of the aviation network that is the challenge,” says Tan.
TERMINAL 4
The first of these massive projects to roll out is Terminal 4, with a gross floor area of 195,000 sqm. Close to completion, the terminal now has airlines onboard. CAG announced in July that Korean Air, Vietnam Airlines, Air Asia Berhad, Indonesia Air Asia and Thai Air Asia would be joining Cathay Pacific in bringing their operations to T4. Cathay in particular is keen to bring a new brand design ethos for its airport lounge to the terminal.
Negotiations are continuing with other airlines and CAG expects a few more onboard before T4 opens. Leasing of 17,000 sqm of retail space (about 80 outlets) is also underway.
Tan Hanjie, manager of CAG’s T4 programme management office, says the terminal’s layout is simple, with upper-level departures and lower-level arrivals, similar to T1, T2 and T3.
Passengers departing will be met with 17 checkin counters, with provision for one more, and can use either manual check-ins or the new FAST selfservice kiosks for fully automated check-in, bag drop, immigration clearance and departure gate boarding. Airlines have estimated they will save up to 40 per cent on manpower with the automated systems. The system is progressively rolling out in the other terminals but T4 will see the terminal-wide rollout of these options.
T4 will feature centralised departure immigration and security screening, different to the other terminals. Beyond clearing immigration and security screening, passengers have no further checks at gates. Biometrics including facial recognition technology are in play here. When you enter and check-in the airport takes a picture of the day of you, and that will be matched against your passport. Just before you board your plane that same photo will again be matched with the passenger who is about to board, to ensure it is the same person.
T4 is supported by 17 smaller aircraft bays for regional airlines and four bays that can support larger aircraft, primarily for CX. The distance from the lounge to the apron is less than 200 metres and aided by travelators. The terminal also supports eight bus gates with direct roadway access to 17 narrow body and nine wide body remote stands.
“We adopted an open gate concept, so the passengers don’t need to arrive at the gate earlier. For arriving passengers it’s even more convenient, ”Tan Hanjie says. “There is only one direction for people to move. They congregate at an escalator area and move through to immigration, clear immigration and on the left is baggage pickup and then through to the greeting hall. We’ll also offer a shuttle lounge for passengers needing to travel to T2.”
Premium passengers will have 2,000 sqm of space dedicated to airline lounges in the transit area mezzanine level. CX has already identified an area for its lounge and CAG says there is room for about two more lounges, with several interested parties.
Transit has 15,000 sqm of retail space, translating to 65 units of retail, F&B and food shops, while a walkthrough duty free covers 2,500 sqm. There is also a “heritage zone” planned, offering local brand retail and dining concepts. Landside offers 5,000 sqm of retail space, translating to 25 units of retail and F&B.
THE JEWEL
“We’re out to create something that’s truly world class, something that will have an affinity with Singapore and at the same time be recognisable around the world,” says Philip Yim, CEO of Jewel Changi Airport.
Created with its multi-faceted exterior mirroring its name, Yim says Jewel’s environment is unique. “Gardens, synonymous with Singapore, in a controlled air-conditioned environment as well, but we’re talking 240,000 sq ft (22,300 sqm) – two-thirds the size of the Royal Botanic Gardens in Sydney – so it’s quite significant,” he says.
“The central water feature is the key and the hub. It’s a rain vortex and the highest indoor waterfall in the world. Singapore is renowned for its weather and during massive rainstorms we will switch off the pump and the water will come from the natural currents from the storms.”
The forest area will be cooled at the level of people traffic. There will be walking trails from levels one to five, or you can go through the retail levels. A light and sound show at night will be projected onto the vortex.
Jewel will showcase 53,884 sqm of retail space and a 130-room hotel, with rooms leased by the hour, by Yotel. Total floor area is more than 130,000 sqm plus 2,500 parking spaces. T1 will be connected to Jewel, also T2 and T3 in the future will be linked by skybridges. Jewel sits between all three existing terminals.
“Currently you can’t walk between all three terminals,” says Yim. “You can walk between T2 and T3, but you can’t actually walk between T2 and T1, and T3 and T1, so in the future it will all be connected up.”
Also planned are early check-in counters so those with layovers enjoy more time before their flight. “This will also be the place for connecting passengers on flight cruises. So they fly in, get all their bags cleared here, check-in for their cruise and are coached to the cruise terminal. It’s similar for land transfers to Malaysia as well, so it will be a multi-nodal transfer hub.”
“At the same time, because Jewel sits in front of T1, it will increase T1’s handling capacity to 24 million. So come 2018, our current 66 million will go up to 85 million, giving us enough headroom into the middle of next decade.”
CHANGI EAST
Dwarfing them all for sheer size is Changi East, the fifth terminal and third runway that will transform Changi into a world giant among airports.
“Obviously there is growth but one fundamental reason is we believe capacity is the basic hygiene factor behind service,” says Choy Da Wen, senior vice president, Changi East programme management office. “If you don’t have the capacity, no amount of smiling faces, swimming pools or gardens is going to make up for the fact that there are long queues everywhere, planes can’t come and go etc.”
Changi East covers 1,000 hectares next to the existing Changi West (1,300 hectares), which houses the other terminals and Jewel. The third runway is two-thirds built and requires extending, having been in use for Singapore’s air force, which has moved its classified facility to the East.
Choy explains that over the years as Changi has grown, it has found there are great advantages to small and modular terminals. People love the fact that each terminal is small, and you can get out quickly from the gates.
“But operationally the bigger airline groups, and you see this with SIA and the bigger carriers, they have outgrown a single terminal,” he says.“Today SIA straddles T2 and T3, and operationally it’s a little bit ugly. You may find if you’re trying to pick up a friend or relative on an SIA flight, you wouldn’t know which terminal they are landing on until two hours before the landing, because they have to decide where to distribute the aircraft, so it creates problems for the big carriers.
“With the benefit of this knowledge we are confident enough to build T5 as a single integrated complex of about 50 million [passengers per annum capacity] to begin with, and that is big enough to house most of these big airline groups.
“We still have to negotiate the kinds of carriers going in there, but based on the product positioning it’s likely to be carriers that are networked and have hubbing operations, and that do a lot of transfers. Definitely one of the first customers we are talking to is SIA.”
Choy says the remaining terminals, small and modular, are ideal for smaller carriers “because they don’t need transfers – they just want the short walk from the curb to the gate”.
He says for the massive building programme to succeed, the first priority is runway capacity. “Beyond the terminal capacity we are building with T4 and so on, runway capacity is quite important. One of the first priorities is to get a three-runway system up that massively expands our capacity for the airport, not just for T5, but for T1, T2, T3 and T4 as well, and we hope to have that done by the early 2020s, something like 2022 – we try to keep it a bit vague [because] the issue is there are multiple steps to this.
“A three-runway system is not the same as runway three. We’ll first get runway three up and running as a runway, but then we will need to close off runway two for a while in order to connect up the supporting taxiways and the underground facilities and so on, before all three runways are operational again.
“So runway three first, then a period of closure of runway two, we’re trying to keep it at less than two years at this point, when all the connections are done to make it a single entity, and then three runways become operational.”
The first package of runway works are scheduled to begin this month. Funding for this joint private public project comes initially via a S$3 billion (US$2.1 billion) government injection as well as an undisclosed CAG contribution and a user pays formula as yet undefined.
CULTURAL CLOSENESS
A curious element behind all this excellence is a cultural nuance most of us miss as we swing through Changi on our way to somewhere else.
“Singaporeans really identify with the airport,”Tan says.“Singaporeans bring their families to the airport at the weekend. One fact is because it’s air-conditioned,
which is very important. But there are also wide open spaces where kids won’t get hurt, and of course lots of things to do.”
Tan Hanjie agrees.“When I was young I used to pester my parents to bring me over to take a look. The airport is a place close to the heart of Singaporeans.” This affectionate attachment that most of us might find a little difficult to understand may also explain why the airport is consistently viewed as one of the world’s best.
“Changi Airport is, in many ways, a microcosm of Singapore and what the country stands for,” says Lee, CAG’s chief executve officer.“A tiny city-state with no natural resources, Singapore strives relentlessly for excellence and innovates continually to remain relevant and competitive in the global economy.
“Similarly, this spirit of continual innovation and progress is an integral part of our ethos in managing Changi Airport and ensuring that it continues to be a leading air hub in the world. As we continue to strive for excellence in the day-to-day operations of our current terminals, it is also critical that we plan ahead for the capacity needs of the future. This is a philosophy that has underpinned Changi’s growth and development over the past three decades.
“As we near the halfway mark of the 2015/16 financial year, we have been encouraged by improvements in traffic demand, driven by growth in the China, India and Vietnam sectors,” says Lee.“The slate of new airlines that have joined Changi in the recent months, such as Batik Air, Thai Lion Air and Myanmar National Airlines, as well as new flights being mounted by many of our existing carriers, are also expected to give traffic a boost.
“If economic and market conditions remain stable, we are optimistic that we will continue to register positive growth for this year.”
With a flight every 90 seconds into Changi, the airport is betting its expansion on continued market growth.
“Asia-Pacific will continue to power on,” says Choy. “We still believe we’re only beginning to see the emergence of the middle class. The very nature of APAC’s geography makes aviation the only real mode of transport for the region. You have to travel by air. These factors power growth.
“We pride ourselves of being ahead of the demand curve. We will need something in the 2020s when we look at the charts, at the growth. And not just thickening old roots, but growing new ones. The tier-three cities of today will be the tier-one cities of tomorrow in China, India and Indonesia.”