Report: Opening of Singapore Terminal Delayed Until 2008

December 29, 2003

Report: Opening of Singapore Terminal Delayed Until 2008 
USA Today

SINGAPORE (AFP) — The opening of a third terminal at Singapore's Changi 
Airport is likely to be delayed for about two years, a report said Saturday.

The Straits Times quoted Transport Minister Yeo Cheow Tong as saying Terminal 3 
was expected to open in early 2008.

A spokesman for the airport operator Civil Aviation Authority of Singapore told 
the newspaper that although travel was recovering from the impact of the SARS 
epidemic, the terminal would not be needed until 2008.

Changi Airport's two existing terminals have a combined capacity of 44 million 
passengers a year. Last year 29 million passed through.

Costing 1.5 billion Singapore dollars (US $877 million), Terminal 3 is capable 
of handling 20 million passengers annually and is designed to receive the next 
generation of large aircraft such as the Airbus 380.

The delay in opening would give a headstart to a new airport in Bangkok with a 
capacity to handle 45 million passengers when it opens in September 2005, the 
report said.

Transport Minister Yeo also said Changi Airport's Terminal 1 would get a 250 
million Singapore dollar (US $146 million) facelift starting in 2005 in a bid 
to meet rising regional competition.

The swankier Terminal 2 is currently undergoing an upgrade, also worth 250 
million Singapore dollars, and is expected to be completed by 2005.

"The competition is going to get tougher, that's for sure, which is why we're 
putting in place all these programmes to ensure that Changi is able to continue 
growing as an air hub," Yeo said.
 
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