SINGAPORE, 11 April 2024: Changi Airport Group’s Chief Executive Officer, Lee Seow Hiang, will step down on 1 July 2024 having served 15 years at CAG.
He will concurrently step down as a director on the CAG Board and chairman of the boards of Changi Airports International (CAI) and Jewel Changi Airport Development.
The CAG Board confirmed this week that it has appointed Yam Kum Weng to succeed Lee as CEO of CAG and has also named him a director of the CAG Board and chairman of the CAI Board effective 1 July 2024. Yam is currently CAG’s Executive Vice President, Airport Development, leading the Changi East project, including Terminal 5 (T5).
Lee led CAG for 15 years
Lee was appointed the founding CEO of CAG when Changi Airport was corporatised on 1 July 2009. In the 15 years that followed, CAG became the premier air hub and most internationally connected in Southeast Asia with links to more than 150 destinations worldwide.
During his tenure, CAG also marked major milestones such as the launch of Terminal 4, the upgrading and expansion of Terminals 1 and 2 and the development of Jewel Changi Airport, which opened its doors in 2019. These large infrastructure projects increased Changi Airport’s handling capacity by 23% to 90 million passenger movements annually.
The many enhancements at Changi Airport raised the Changi Experience for passengers and visitors, contributing to numerous prestigious global awards for airports since July 2009. Over the last 10 years, Mr Lee has also laid the foundations for future development in Changi East, including T5. Following a two-year pandemic-related pause, work on the development has resumed and is making good progress, with groundbreaking to take place next year.
Lee commented: “It has been a gift of grace and a lifetime privilege to be a member of this special Changi community for these incredible years. The last 15 years have been an exhilarating journey of building the best air hub for Singapore. We worked hard to double the size and vibrancy of our air hub to almost 70 million passengers a year but lost it all during the Covid years. Yet, we kept our fundamentals strong; today, we are emerging stronger on our full recovery.”
