More airlines, facial recognition technology planned for Changi's Terminal 4
Five more airlines will operate from Singapore Changi Airport's Terminal 4 (T4) when it opens to passengers in the second half of 2017.
Korean Air, Vietnam Airlines and the AirAsia group, including AirAsia Berhad, Indonesia AirAsia and Thai AirAsia, will move their operations from other terminals to the new hub, which expects the movement of 8 to 10 million passengers in the initial period of operations.
This would free up capacity at the other three terminals, which are operating at more than 80 per cent capacity of 66 million passenger movements per annum.
Currently, these airlines operate almost 800 flights per week and carried collectively seven million passengers last year. They will be joining Hong Kong's Cathay Pacific, which announced its move in 2014.
Changi Airport Group (CAG) said the terminal's design focuses on the experience of the passenger, making the check-in and boarding process fast, seamless and automated. More than 70 per cent of the structure has been completed.
More installation, testing and trials are underway before 'live' trial flights will begin, to ensure the terminal is ready for full operations.
The aim will be to ensure an improved travel experience for passengers by allowing options for wider in-terminal autonomy, such as self-service check-in, an automated baggage drop and self-boarding.
Facial recognition technology will also be introduced for the first time at Changi Airport, reducing the number of staff needed to perform manual visual checks of passengers.
Validation of passports and boarding passes will be scanned and verified automatically, without the use of any manpower, to ensure speedier clearances. It forms a complete suite of self-service and automation at the airport, which CAG terms its fast and seamless travel (FAST) initiatives.
"In T4, this is an opportunity for us to roll in a lot of productivity initiatives that would help the airline to save cost in operations," said Ms Poh Li San, Vice-President of Terminal 4 Programme Management Office. "For passengers, we have also designed the terminal in various aspects to improve the experience.
"They don't need to wait in long queues, and they don't need to wait for counters to be open before they can check in. The whole experience would be so much more smoother, faster, seamless and stress free."
Ms Poh added that this also results in greater capacity for the airport, as throughout would be much faster through the various touch points, and for airlines that means cost savings. AirAsia Group CEO Tony Fernandes said this could shave operating costs out of Singapore by as high as 40 per cent.
Some of the other features of the new terminal include a central Galleria, enhanced transit lounges, Pernanakan heritage shop fronts and green sanctuaries, including a boulevard of trees along a boarding corridor. Natural light will also figure prominently in the new design.
Terminal 4 was criticised last year by Scoot Airways CEO Campbell Wilson, who described the project as a “big folly”, arguing the airport lacked connectivity to other terminals and appropriate berths for larger jets. Scoot is in the process of rolling out a fleet of Dreamliners.
However, Mr Fernandes said he was satisfied with the set-up, and that the berthing issues were not relevant to AirAsia due to the airline operating narrow-bodied aircraft.
He said T4 offered an opportunity for the airline to offer new destinations, possibly in Malaysia, Indonesia, Thailand and India, and increase frequency of existing services."What is driving volume is low fares. Low fares stimulate more demand and having a terminal like this will enable us to give lower fares and drive more traffic through," he said.
"We believe that eventually we'll be allowed to fly international to India, which will be a very big market for us into Singapore, and a couple of other countries we're looking at."
While Changi’s other terminals are connected via Skytrain access, passengers will need to transfer to Terminal 2 via a traditional shuttle bus.
"We do not have the Sky Train but what we do have is free bus shuttles with the same frequency level as the Sky Train," said Yam Kum Wung, Executive Vic President, Air Hub Development, Changi Airport Group.
"The distance from existing terminals to T4 is about five minutes. We have made enough provisions for bags, for passengers to be connected in a very similar and convenient manner," he said
CAG stressed that T4 will not be a budget terminal and the costs for airlines to be flying from there will be similar to the other existing terminals.
Terminal 4 is being constructed by Takenaka Corporation on the site of the demolished budget terminal, on a construction contract worth nearly S$1 billion. It is equipped to handle 16 million passengers a year, spanning an area of 195,000 square metres.
~News courtesy of Channel News Asia~
Five more airlines will operate from Singapore Changi Airport's Terminal 4 (T4) when it opens to passengers in the second half of 2017.
Korean Air, Vietnam Airlines and the AirAsia group, including AirAsia Berhad, Indonesia AirAsia and Thai AirAsia, will move their operations from other terminals to the new hub, which expects the movement of 8 to 10 million passengers in the initial period of operations.
This would free up capacity at the other three terminals, which are operating at more than 80 per cent capacity of 66 million passenger movements per annum.
Currently, these airlines operate almost 800 flights per week and carried collectively seven million passengers last year. They will be joining Hong Kong's Cathay Pacific, which announced its move in 2014.
Changi Airport Group (CAG) said the terminal's design focuses on the experience of the passenger, making the check-in and boarding process fast, seamless and automated. More than 70 per cent of the structure has been completed.
More installation, testing and trials are underway before 'live' trial flights will begin, to ensure the terminal is ready for full operations.
The aim will be to ensure an improved travel experience for passengers by allowing options for wider in-terminal autonomy, such as self-service check-in, an automated baggage drop and self-boarding.
Facial recognition technology will also be introduced for the first time at Changi Airport, reducing the number of staff needed to perform manual visual checks of passengers.
Validation of passports and boarding passes will be scanned and verified automatically, without the use of any manpower, to ensure speedier clearances. It forms a complete suite of self-service and automation at the airport, which CAG terms its fast and seamless travel (FAST) initiatives.
"In T4, this is an opportunity for us to roll in a lot of productivity initiatives that would help the airline to save cost in operations," said Ms Poh Li San, Vice-President of Terminal 4 Programme Management Office. "For passengers, we have also designed the terminal in various aspects to improve the experience.
"They don't need to wait in long queues, and they don't need to wait for counters to be open before they can check in. The whole experience would be so much more smoother, faster, seamless and stress free."
Ms Poh added that this also results in greater capacity for the airport, as throughout would be much faster through the various touch points, and for airlines that means cost savings. AirAsia Group CEO Tony Fernandes said this could shave operating costs out of Singapore by as high as 40 per cent.
Some of the other features of the new terminal include a central Galleria, enhanced transit lounges, Pernanakan heritage shop fronts and green sanctuaries, including a boulevard of trees along a boarding corridor. Natural light will also figure prominently in the new design.
Terminal 4 was criticised last year by Scoot Airways CEO Campbell Wilson, who described the project as a “big folly”, arguing the airport lacked connectivity to other terminals and appropriate berths for larger jets. Scoot is in the process of rolling out a fleet of Dreamliners.
However, Mr Fernandes said he was satisfied with the set-up, and that the berthing issues were not relevant to AirAsia due to the airline operating narrow-bodied aircraft.
He said T4 offered an opportunity for the airline to offer new destinations, possibly in Malaysia, Indonesia, Thailand and India, and increase frequency of existing services."What is driving volume is low fares. Low fares stimulate more demand and having a terminal like this will enable us to give lower fares and drive more traffic through," he said.
"We believe that eventually we'll be allowed to fly international to India, which will be a very big market for us into Singapore, and a couple of other countries we're looking at."
While Changi’s other terminals are connected via Skytrain access, passengers will need to transfer to Terminal 2 via a traditional shuttle bus.
"We do not have the Sky Train but what we do have is free bus shuttles with the same frequency level as the Sky Train," said Yam Kum Wung, Executive Vic President, Air Hub Development, Changi Airport Group.
"The distance from existing terminals to T4 is about five minutes. We have made enough provisions for bags, for passengers to be connected in a very similar and convenient manner," he said
CAG stressed that T4 will not be a budget terminal and the costs for airlines to be flying from there will be similar to the other existing terminals.
Terminal 4 is being constructed by Takenaka Corporation on the site of the demolished budget terminal, on a construction contract worth nearly S$1 billion. It is equipped to handle 16 million passengers a year, spanning an area of 195,000 square metres.
~News courtesy of Channel News Asia~
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