Changi Airport's Terminal 4 welcomes first flight

Changi Airport's Terminal 4 welcomes first flight



Changi Airport's Terminal 4, which opened on Tuesday (Oct 31), welcomed its first flight as Cathay Pacific Airways CX659 from Hong Kong landed at 5.25am.

Passengers who were on the flight were given a goodie tote bag containing a plush toy, fan, and cardholder. They also received orchids upon disembarking from the plane and were greeted with a performance by local instrumental band Lorong Boys at the baggage belt.

One passenger, Mdm Rameza, said: "It was very good. There were live performances and goodies, and operations were very smooth."

Another passenger, Mr Mohammed Hossenbux, said: "The whole process was very efficient. It only took me 15 minutes to walk from the plane exit to get out of here (arrival hall)."

The new terminal features start-to-end self-service systems, allowing travellers to check in, deposit their baggage and even go through immigration via automated systems.

At 225,000 sqm, Terminal 4 is only about half the size of Terminal 3, making it Changi Airport's smallest terminal. But once fully operational, it will be expected to handle 16 million passengers a year - about 70 per cent of T3's handling capacity.

Along with Cathay Pacific Airways, Korean Air also commenced operations at the new terminal on Tuesday. This will be followed by Cebu Pacific and Spring Airlines on Nov 2, and AirAsia and Vietnam Airlines on Nov 7.

~News courtesy of Channel News Asia~

First Botanic Gardens Children's Festival to kick off in November

First Singapore Botanic Gardens Children's Festival to kick off in November



The movie screenings will be held over three Saturdays during the festival. (Photo: Singapore Botanic Gardens/Facebook)

The first Singapore Botanic Gardens Children's Festival will kick off on Nov 11, the National Parks Board (NParks) announced in a media release on Friday (Oct 27).

Running for two weeks from Nov 11 to Nov 26, the festival will have a "host of activities lined up for children of all ages" at the Jacob Ballas Children's Garden and around the Singapore Botanic Gardens.

Visitors will be able to take part in activities where children can discover more about nature through play, craft, storytelling, investigations and walks, said NParks, as well as carnival activities.

For example, in one of the programmes, children can learn how to make snacks and beautify them through food art as well as learn about healthy eating.

There will also be performances and movie screenings, including The Lego Batman Movie, and interactive performances where children can meet and greet Speedy the Squirrel, Lizzie the Monitor Lizard and other performance characters, according to the press release.

All festival programmes are free of charge and more information can be found on www.nparks.gov.sg/childrensfestival, NParks said.

~News courtesy of Channel News Asia~

Three new hotels to open in Sentosa in mid-2019

Three new hotels to open in Sentosa in mid-2019



Artist's impression of the three hotels that will open in Sentosa in mid-2019. (Photo: Far East Hospitality)

Three hotels with a combined 839 rooms are expected to open in Sentosa in mid-2019, aiming mostly to serve the mid-tier market and attract staycation enthusiasts.

Village Hotel Sentosa, The Outpost Sentosa and a third hotel whose name will be confirmed at a later stage, will be located at Artillery Avenue in the Palawan area of Sentosa, said Far East Hospitality, the operator of the hotels, on Wednesday (Oct 25)

“Sentosa is a regional tourist spot. It has a host of attractions, and is easily accessible to the Central Business District, making it an ideal location amongst travellers who are here for leisure or business," said Mr Arthur Kiong, chief executive officer of Far East Hospitality, in a press release.

"However, the mid-tier segment in Sentosa is underserved. With these three new properties, we hope to fill the gap of the mid-tier segment, while catering to the growing category of discerning travellers and Singapore's robust staycation market.”

Village Hotel Sentosa, with 606 rooms, aims to target the mid-tier market, including travellers from regional and international markets and Singaporeans looking for a family weekend getaway, the release said.

The Outpost, with 193 rooms, caters to young couples who prefer exclusivity. Meanwhile, the third hotel, with 40 rooms, will be designed to appeal to guests in the upscale market, Far East Hospitality said.

Sentosa currently has 13 hotels with a combined 2,500 rooms. It has been trying to increase its visitorship, and in June announced plans to improve connectivity and introduce new and upgraded attractions.

Among the changes, the Merlion Gateway – a 12-ha precinct starting from Resorts World Sentosa, past Merlion Plaza and onto Sentosa's beaches – will be revamped to include an elevated walkway and increased capacity for pedestrians. The revamp of the gateway is expected to be completed by 2021.

Additionally, two new tracks will be added to Skyline Luge Sentosa.

Source: Channel News Asia

Orchard Road light-up to feature Christmas village

Orchard Road light-up to feature Christmas village; lights to be switched on early



Artist's impression of the Christmas village, which will be open from Nov 25 to Dec 25, 2017. (Image: Orchard Road Business Association)

The run-up to Christmas this year will see the annual festive lights on Orchard Road being switched on hours earlier in the day.

And for the first time, a European-inspired Christmas village will feature as part of the street's annual light-up for the festive season.

In a media release on Wednesday (Oct 25), the Orchard Road Business Association (ORBA) said the Christmas village will feature a double-decker carousel, as well as stores by more than 25 brands, including Starbucks, Toast Box, PAUL and Royal Selangor.

From 8pm on Christmas Eve, local bands will perform Christmas classics, ahead of a pyrotechnics show at midnight.

The Christmas village, which will be located at Ngee Ann City's Civic Plaza, will operate from Nov 25 to Dec 25.

Orchard Road will kick off its Christmas light-up on Nov 11, with President Halimah Yacob officiating the ceremony. This year's decorations will span 2.88km, running from Tanglin Mall to Plaza Singapura.



The theme for this year's Christmas light-up along Orchard Road is Endless Wonder. (Image: Orchard Road Business Association)

The Christmas lights will also be turned on earlier this year - starting from 3pm, instead of 6.30pm in previous years.

"We want visitors to enjoy the whole Endless Wonder experience in the day and the night," said an ORBA spokesperson, adding that energy-efficient LED lights will be used.

The lights will remain on until 2am on Fridays and Saturdays, and until midnight on all other days except Christmas Eve and New Year's Eve, when they will stay on until 6am the following morning.

Other highlights include the main arch between Ion Orchard and Tang Plaza. Standing at 12m this year, it is the tallest arch in the history of Christmas light-ups along Orchard Road.



Artist's impression of a 5m tall Enchanted Tree, which will be located outside Wisma Atria. (Image: Orchard Road Business Association)

In total, 76,800 man hours were spent producing the Christmas decorations while 15,120 man hours were spent to put them up along Orchard Road, according to ORBA.

Retailers such as Haagen Dazs, Casio and SK-II will also have pop-up stores between Wisma Atria and Mandarin Gallery as part of festive celebrations, ORBA said.

The Christmas light-up along Orchard Road runs until Jan 1, 2018.

Source: Channel News Asia

Tweaks made to roads, bus routes to T4: Changi Airport

Tweaks made to roads, bus routes to T4: Changi Airport

Amid months of trials and familiarisation exercises, tweaks have been made to make driving and public bus routes to the new Terminal 4 as intuitive and confusion-free as possible, Changi Airport said on Tuesday (Oct 24).

This comes ahead of the terminal’s first day of operations next Tuesday.

Trials, which began as early as February, have involved airport staff, car clubs, taxi drivers, public transport operators and members of the public.

Their feedback has also resulted in several changes being made along the way, the airport management said.

"For example, at some difficult or more challenging bends, we have added more safety measures to remind motorists to slow down. At some turning points for public buses, for example, we have hacked away part of the kerb to make it easier for bus captains to drive out, to make a turn at those areas,” said Mr Kelvin Tan, general manager of Changi Airport Group's development operations at Terminal 4.

Based on the feedback from trial participants, more lit road signs have been added to guide passengers in and out of the terminal, he said.

For drivers, Terminal 4 is accessible via the Pan Island Expressway (PIE), through a slip road at Exit 1. The alternative is through the East Coast Parkway (ECP), turning left onto the Airport Flyover.

Besides permanent signs and road markings, other temporary signs have also been put up and will remain in place until operations at the new terminal stabilise.

There are also four public bus services - 24, 34, 36 and 110 - that allow passengers to alight directly at T4.

NEW T4 SHUTTLE BUS SERVICE

However, T4 will be the only airport terminal that is not served by the existing Skytrain, which links Terminal 1, 2 and 3.

Those who plan to take the MRT will have to take a new free 24-hour shuttle bus service from the T2 arrival hall to reach the new terminal.

"(T2) is the closest terminal to T4 among the other three terminals. It's also well-connected to the train station and bus terminals in T2,” said Mr Tan.

“We also took feedback from our airport partners, many of them have their headquarters based in T2, so to facilitate staff who may need to shuttle between the terminals … T2 is a natural pick-up and drop-off point."

The wait time for a shuttle bus goes up to 10 minutes during regular hours, between 5.30am and midnight, and up to 20 minutes from midnight till 5.30am.

Each shuttle can take about 80 people and has been specially designed to cater for luggage and passengers with reduced mobility.

For example, a wheelchair ramp can be lowered automatically by the bus driver at the push of a button and the vehicle can tilt to lower itself for easy access.

Passengers with connecting flights at Terminal 4 and have to transfer between terminals will also be ferried by shuttle buses.

The average waiting time for these buses is expected to be up to 10 minutes between 8am and 2am, and up to 25 minutes between 2am and 8am.

A total of nine shuttle buses and 21 drivers will ferry passengers at the public and air-side areas.

The two-storey Terminal 4 is expected to handle about 16 million passengers per year, boosting Changi Airport’s annual capacity to 82 million passengers.

Source: Channel News Asia

Happy Deepavali!

Happy Deepavali!
தீபாவளி நல்வாழ்த்துக்கள்!
屠妖节快乐！

Banyan Tree Holdings to open its first resort in Singapore in Mandai

Banyan Tree Holdings to open its first resort in Singapore in Mandai

Those who enjoy spending their days or evenings at the Singapore Zoo, River Safari or Night Safari will soon be able to extend their experience past nightfall too.

A full-service hotel run by Banyan Tree Holdings, a Singapore-based hotel chain known for its luxe resorts around the world, will be built in the area. When completed, it will be Banyan Tree's first resort in Singapore.

The hotel is expected to welcome guests by 2023, which is also when two new wildlife parks - the relocated Bird Park from Jurong and a new Rainforest Park - join the existing trio of attractions in the leafy Mandai area.

Plans for the hotel were announced by Banyan Tree and Mandai Park Holdings at a media briefing on Wednesday (Oct 11).

Mandai Park Holdings is the developer spearheading plans to rejuvenate Mandai and turn it into a nature destination with five wildlife parks.

Although overnight camps have been conducted at the Singapore Zoo, the resort will, for the first time, provide guests with the experience of staying in a full-service hotel.



The hotel will be capped at four storeys or 21m high, under existing tree canopies, occupy 4.6ha of land - about the size of six football fields - and feature a variety of accommodation types.

Other than standard and family rooms, the resort will also offer guests the chance to stay in elevated cabins and treehouses. The variety of room types also caters to guests with different budgets, said Mr Mike Barclay, Mandai Park Holdings' group chief executive, during the briefing.

The hotel can have up to 400 rooms, the maximum number set out by an earlier environmental impact assessment which looked at how the development could be done in a way that would least impact the surrounding sensitive habitats and native wildlife in the neighbouring Central Catchment Nature Reserve.

In comparison, a plot of similar size in the city area can accommodate more than 1,000 rooms.

As with Banyan Tree resorts around the world, the upcoming hotel - which will later be jointly named by Mandai Park Holdings and Banyan Tree - will allow guests to take part in a variety of activities to "gain a deeper appreciation and understanding of biodiversity and the environment". Activities include talks on conservation, guided nature walks and native wildlife-spotting tours, recycling workshops and educational movie screenings.

"This stayover experience forms an integral part of our overall vision for the Mandai nature and wildlife precinct - to inspire guests to value and conserve biodiversity through memorable experiences," said Mr Barclay. "Banyan Tree has a strong track record in developing and managing resorts that are sensitively located and sustainably operated."

Banyan Tree was selected by Mandai Park Holdings as the hotel operator following a request for proposals, which saw submissions by eight companies. Construction is expected to start in 2020, after design and operation plans for the resort are finalised.

Mr Ho Kwon Ping, executive chairman of Banyan Tree, said the company is excited to partner Mandai Park Holdings to plant the hotel chain's first flag in Singapore.

"With Mandai Park Holdings' mission and expertise in wildlife conservation and education, this partnership is in line with Banyan Tree's ethos and experience in developing sustainable resorts that fit into the natural settings - to create an original and authentic accommodation experience like none other," he said.

Since plans for the rejuvenation of Mandai were announced in 2014, it has come under scrutiny by nature groups, as the area being developed sits right outside the biodiversity-rich Central Catchment Nature Reserve - Singapore's largest nature reserve.

Mandai Park Holdings has taken steps to address these concerns, for example, by commissioning an environmental study and engaging with scientific experts and nature enthusiasts.

On Wednesday, both Mandai Park Holdings and Banyan Tree said the upcoming hotel will also be designed in an eco-friendly way and feature green building elements, such as energy- and water-efficiency. A panel of nine academics and experts, including world leaders in green building design, has also been convened to provide input.

"To achieve harmony with the landscape, the development will be low-intensity and built sensitively around existing vegetation, respecting existing tree canopies and the natural topography of the area," said Mandai Park Holdings and Banyan Tree in a statement.

Flora of conservation value will be protected, and a 15m-wide vegetation buffer will be retained between the hotel and the adjacent Upper Seletar Reservoir.

Concerns have been raised about the upcoming hotel development, such as how noise from the hotel could affect the wildlife of the neighbouring forest, and how a constant stream of human traffic through Mandai Lake Road, which links two swathes of the nature reserve, could result in more roadkill.

In response, Mr Barclay said that when it comes to reducing the impact of noise, the design of the hotel is paramount.

"Two children in a swimming pool located at the edge of the resort could result in noise travelling to the reserve. But by placing the pool in the centre of the resort, and using buildings and other noise abatement strategies, this can be reduced," he said.

He added that the number of hours of active vehicular traffic along Mandai Lake Road is expected to be the same, even with a resort, and pointed to other measures to safeguard wildlife crossings that Mandai Park Holdings had earlier announced. This includes installing fences and building a wildlife bridge.

Nature guide Ivan Kwan said he hoped the resort will be designed and built in such a way that bird collisions can be reduced, considering the proximity of the hotel to the reserve, which thrives with forest birds.

“Another concern would be how the resort will deal with wildlife that the guests and staff will inevitably encounter,” said Mr Kwan.

“The presence of food might also attract monkeys, birds and wild boars. It’s possible that even if these animals don’t raid the trash or steal food from visitors, other guests may deliberately feed them instead. The resort will need to have proper guidelines for human-wildlife interactions, and ensure that these are followed by the guests.”

Still, the appointment of Banyan Tree is seen by some travel industry players as a sound move.

Ms Alicia Seah, director of public relations and communications at Dynasty Travel, said Banyan Tree resorts around the world are known for being luxurious, and built on environmentally-sound principles.

“I am confident that Banyan Tree will be able to inject innovation, an amazing service experience, and a unique experience, for the new Mandai project,” said Ms Seah.

Dr Guan Chong, head of the marketing programme at the Singapore University of Social Sciences’ business school, said the hotel, located so close to the wildlife parks, can differentiate it from other hotels in Singapore.

“Currently, there are hardly any internationally renowned hotels in this area and tourists who visit the parks have to travel back to the city centre after their visit,” she said.

“Being the first to be there, Banyan Tree resort in Mandai can cater to the needs of park visitors and will face less competition as compared to hotels in downtown area.”

~News courtesy of Straits Times~

Asean to open skies further

Asean to open skies further

Asean countries signed the protocol to put into place a package of commitments to further liberalise air transport services in the region.

At the 23rd Asean Transport Ministers Meeting, the countries also agreed to improve connectivity among member states.

Transport ministers and senior officials from Asean member countries attended the two-day meeting. Also present were dialogue partners from China, Japan and South Korea.

Among the highlights of the meeting was the conclusion of the “tenth package of commitments on air transport services under the Asean Framework of Services”.

Liow said the ministers also signed the protocol of domestic code-share rights, allowing code­-sharing arrangements between the marketing airline and domestic airline in Asean member countries.

“This would increase connectivity between Malaysia and other Asean member states.

“At the same time, it would enable designated airlines of Malaysia to offer their passengers a wide range of travel options which can extend beyond the airlines’ own network and route structure,” he added.

Liow said the ministers signed the Mutual Recognition Arrangement on Flight Crew Licensing, which would facilitate air services to complement liberalisation efforts in Asean, and ensure the highest degree of security in international air transport.

They also reached an agreement on the Facilitation of Cross Border Transport of Passengers by Road Vehicles.

“This is to promote seamless cross-border mobility of passengers between Asean member states,” said Liow.

He added that the ministers had concluded the Memorandum of Understanding (MoU) between the authorities in charge of aircraft accident investigation under the Asean-China partnership.

“This agreement would further strengthen Malaysia’s cooperation with China in relation to aircraft accident and incident investigations, sharing experiences and expertise in various specialist fields, equipment and research,” he said.

~News courtesy of The Star~