SINGAPORE, 1 May 2024: Singapore Changi Airport registered 16.5 million passenger movements from January to March 2024, surpassing what was registered for the first quarter of 2019 (Q1 2019) by 0.5%.
The airport handled 5.43 million, 5.35 million and 5.73 million passenger movements in January, February and March 2024, respectively. These were 96%, 104.3% and 101.7% compared with the same month in 2019.
For Q1, aircraft movements totalled 89,400 (94% of the movements in Q1 2019). Traffic to and from most regions recovered to 2019 levels or surpassed them. North America has been the strongest performer, with traffic exceeding pre-Covid levels by 25% this quarter.
China the top source market
Changi Airport’s top five markets for the quarter were China, Indonesia, Malaysia, Australia, and Thailand. A mutual 30-day visa-exemption arrangement between Singapore and China launched on 9 February 2024, has boosted travel between the two countries, propelling China as Changi’s top market for the quarter. Denpasar (Bali), Manila, Taipei, Seoul, and Shanghai were among the top 10 cities that outperformed Q1 2019 by more than 10%.
From January to March 2024, airfreight throughput totalled 475,000 tonnes, an increase of 14% compared to the same period last year. This marks the first quarter of year-on-year growth after seven consecutive quarters of decline. The growth was largely attributed to strong transhipment performance, especially in terms of flows with China. For this period, Changi’s top five air cargo markets (1) were Australia, China, Hong Kong, India and the US.
Lim Ching Kiat, Changi Airport Group’s Executive Vice President for Air Hub and Cargo Development, said: “Passenger movements in Q1 2024 have surpassed pre-Covid volumes. This follows a steady recovery of travel in the past year. CAG has worked closely with airline partners to reinstate flights suspended during the pandemic and add new flights at Changi Airport. This quarter’s strong traffic performance was boosted by hosting many music concerts in Singapore and the relaxing of visa requirements between China and Singapore. CAG will continue to collaborate with our airline and travel trade partners to tap into the region’s strong travel momentum. Our goal is to achieve 100% traffic recovery this year. We will also introduce new airline brands and destinations to Singapore.”
One of the world’s busiest airports
Changi Airport was the world’s fifth busiest airport by international passenger volume in 2023. The report released by Airports Council International (2) shows Changi as one of only three Asian Pacific airports ranked in the top 10. According to OAG (3), Changi is the world’s third busiest international airport by seat capacity in March and April 2024.
Entering April, Changi Airport has seen the commencement of two new passenger service routes – Air Canada’s Vancouver-Singapore service launched on 4 April, and Singapore Airlines’ Singapore-Brussels service on 5 April. Scoot also took delivery of its first Embraer jets on 15 April, enabling the airline to expand its network to more regional destinations.
On the cargo front, Changi Airport welcomed two new freighter airlines — Shandong Airlines and Air Incheon, which started four weekly Shenzhen-Singapore services on 28 February and twice weekly Seoul-Haikou-Singapore services on 5 March, respectively.
As of 1 April, 95 airlines operate over 6,800 weekly flights at Changi Airport, connecting Singapore to 153 cities in 48 countries and territories worldwide.
Changi Airport’s traffic statistics are available at http://www.changiairport.com/corporate/our-expertise/air-hub/traffic-statistics.html.
[1] In alphabetical order.
[2] Top 10 busiest airports in the world shift with the rise of international air travel demand – https://aci.aero/2024/04/14/top-10-busiest-airports-in-the-world-shift-with-the-rise-of-international-air-travel-demand/
[3] Busiest airports in the world – https://www.oag.com/busiest-airports-world
