Singapore Terminal 3’s first flight will arrive on Wednesday
Meanwhile, Changi Airport welcomes second carrier from Sri Lanka
By NISHA RAMCHANDANI
OPERATIONS at Changi Airport’s spectacular new Terminal 3 will start on Wednesday, with the first flight, SQ001, arriving at 11.50 that morning. The first flight to depart, the London-bound SQ318, is due to take to the skies an hour later.
Singapore Airlines will be the first carrier to operate from the new terminal with four other airlines - China Eastern, Qatar Airways, Jet Airways and United - joining SIA at the huge 380,000 square metre T3 around March.
SIA will be operating from both T2 and T3, enabling the airline to expand its operations at Changi Airport.
Passengers departing for destinations in Africa, Russia, Turkey, South Asia, South-east Asia and the Middle East will still check-in for their flights at T2. Flights to the Americas, Europe, North Asia and the south-west Pacific will depart from the new terminal.
Flights may arrive at either of the two terminals but information on the arrival terminal will be made available at least two hours before touch-down.
The seven-storey T3, which has cost $1.75 billion to build and commission, can handle 22 million passengers a year.
There is much competition internationally between airports, and the advent of the new terminal is expected to help Changi Airport stay ahead in the game. Although passenger traffic at Changi is expected to increase, there is still a risk of traffic growth slowing as rival airports in emerging markets in Asia improve their facilities.
Among the new facilities there will be 28 aerobridges, with eight of them being used for the huge new Airbus A380 aircraft, a high-speed inter-terminal baggage transfer system, 100 retail shops and more than 40 food and beverage outlets.
In another development yesterday, the Civil Aviation Authority of Singapore (CAAS) welcomed Mihin Lanka, an airline from Sri Lanka, to Changi Airport. This makes it the second carrier from Sri Lanka to operate flights to Singapore, joining state-owned SriLankan Airlines.
CAAS director-general and chief executive Lim Kim Choon said: ‘The launch of Mihin Lanka’s services comes at an opportune time. Between January and November 2007, there were over 70,000 visitor arrivals from Sri Lanka, representing a robust 10 per cent growth year-on-year.’
Source : Straits Times - 05 Jan 2008
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