Sign up to Simon Calder’s free travel email for expert advice and money-saving discounts
Get Simon Calder’s Travel email
Get Simon Calder’s Travel email
Passengers flying from Singapore will be faced with higher airfares as Changi Airport is significantly upgrading its services to meet travel demands.
Changi Airport Group is investing S$3bn Singaporean dollars over the next six years at four of their airport terminals to improve baggage handling, check-in, immigration and their shuttle train connections between terminals.
The investments are helping Singapore’s airport to “stay competitive and meet rising demand for air travel” before their fifth terminal opens in the mid-2030s.
To help fund these investments, airport charges will be increased progressively between 2025 and 2030.
For passengers flying out of Singapore’s Changi Airport, the passenger service and security fee (PSSF) will remain unchanged for two years, but on 1 April 2027, the fee will increase by $3 annually for four years.
The current PSSF is $46.40, but by 2031, it will be around $58.40.
The airport group says that the fee increase per departing flight from 1 April 2027 is about one per cent of an economy class ticket to Bangkok, and less than 0.5 per cent of an economy class ticket to Tokyo or London, assuming today’s ticket prices.
Those passing through Changi Airport as a transfer/transit passenger will also see a hike in their PSSF.
Transfer passengers currently pay $6, which has remained unchanged since 2015. From 1 April 2025, the fee will increase by $3 for three years, then by $1 for three years after that. By 2031, the transfer PSSF will be S$18.
The fee increase per transfer from 2025 is less than one per cent of an economy class ticket from London to Sydney, with a connection at Changi Airport, the group said.
Changi Airport has constantly featured on lists of the best airports in the world, and is known for being home to the world’s tallest indoor waterfall, a butterfly garden home to 1,000 species, and an air-conditioned indoor rainforest.
Singapore is a major hub for the Asia-Pacific region, seeing a large number of passengers passing through the airport on connecting flights every year.
The airport says that the International Air Transport Association and Airports Council International have projected global passenger volumes to at least double between 2023 and 2043, with Asia-Pacific recording the fastest rise, and contributing to more than half of this growth.
Despite already being thought of as one of the greatest airports in the world, the airport acknowledges that it needs to keep investing to stay at the “forefront” of air travel demands.
They will also be refurbishing Terminal 3 to elevate the passenger experience, adding new cars to their Skytrain shuttle network, as well as improving conditions for staff, such as introducing “refresh pods” to help on particularly hot days.
By investing in the airport, the group hopes to increase Terminal 2’s handling capacity by five million to 28 million passengers per annum.
It will also be improving its airside infrastructure as many airlines are set to introduce Boeing’s new B779 family of planes to their fleet by 2026.
As the world’s longest twin-engine aircraft, the B779 has a wheel load that is more demanding on aircraft pavements, so Changi Airport will also be reinforcing some taxiways and upgrading its airport parking stands.
For more travel news and advice, listen to Simon Calder’s podcast
Source: independent.co.uk
