Changi Airport Sees Capacity Boost After Completing Terminal 2 Expansion

singapore changi airport new terminal 2
Credit: Changi Airport Group

SINGAPORE—Changi Airport Group (CAG) has completed a 3.5-year upgrade and renovation of Singapore Changi Airport’s Terminal 2 (T2).

The revamp increases T2’s handling capacity by 5 million to 28 million passengers annually. This in turn expands Changi’s overall yearly capacity to 90 million travelers across its four terminals.

CAG closed T2 at the height of the pandemic in 2020 for improvement works. The scope of the renovation has seen the replacement of building equipment and systems that had reached the end of their operational life as well as the addition of 15,500 m2 (nearly 167,000 ft.2) more floorspace, upgrades to infrastructure and aesthetic improvements.

Older air conditioning chiller systems have been replaced with updated ones that use 30% less energy. The terminal’s baggage-handling system has gone from semi-automated to fully automated and is now capable of supporting storage of 2,400 bags at any one time.

CAG partially opened the southern wing of T2 in May 2022 for arriving traffic, followed by a further partial opening for departing traffic in October 2022—aiming to meet demand for air travel following the easing of pandemic-era movement restrictions. Changi’s August operating numbers were at approximately 87% of pre-COVID levels, the airport says in a statement.

T2 now hosts Air India, Air India Express, Air Macau, Ethiopian Airlines, Firefly, Lufthansa, Malaysia Airlines, Royal Brunei Airlines, Sichuan Airlines, Singapore Airlines, Swiss International Air Lines, and United Airlines. Joining those carriers in October will be Air Japan, All Nippon Airways, Etihad, and IndiGo.

Chen Chuanren

Chen Chuanren is the Southeast Asia and China Editor for the Aviation Week Network’s (AWN) Air Transport World (ATW) and the Asia-Pacific Defense Correspondent for AWN, joining the team in 2017.