Changi Airport's new Terminal 4 to commence ops end October

The new Terminal 4 (T4) at Changi Airport will commence operations on Oct 31, 2017, said Changi Airport Group (CAG) following the recent successful conclusion of major trials, with a small number of checks and reviews to be completed in the final phase of the preparations.

In a statement today, CAG said, to ensure a smooth transition of flight operations from the existing terminals, the operations of the nine T4 airlines would be shifted to the terminal over one week.

"The operations will start with Cathay Pacific Airways and Korean Air on Oct 31; Cebu Pacific Air and Spring Airlines on Nov 2; and, AirAsia Group (of four airlines) and Vietnam Airlines on Nov 7," it said.

CAG's Executive Vice President (Airport Management), Tan Lye Teck, said the past months had been a crucial period for the company.

"We conducted intensive tests and trials, not only to ensure that the systems work well, but also to understand how passengers navigate the new terminal," he said.

Tan said they included interacting with initiatives such as FAST or Fast and Seamless Travel, a suite of self-service options for departing passengers, which might be less familiar to them.

"We have identified areas of improvement following those trials. The feedback gathered from trial participants has also been useful to CAG and our partners in fine-tuning our systems and processes.

"We will take the next few weeks to complete the last set of trials as we prepare for the commencement of operations at T4," he said.

The first arrival and departing flights at T4 would be operated by Cathay Pacific - from and to Hong Kong, respectively.

Altogether, over 100 trials had been conducted, involving over 1,500 volunteer participants and 2,500 airport staff.

T4 will add a capacity of 16 million passengers per annum to Changi Airport, bringing the airport's total annual handling capacity to 82 million passenger movements. -- BERNAMA