As the best airport in the world this year, version Skytrax, Changi in Singapore to compete with other international airports in Southeast Asia. Changi airport intends to expand the capacity up to 2-fold through the new terminal to be built starting next year.
As reported by The Sydney Morning Herald, Wednesday (08/21/2013), the Prime Minister of Singapore, Lee Hsien Loong, says Singapore will build a new terminal with a capacity of 2-fold from Changi Airport. The plan, the airport expansion will begin as soon as possible and is planned to take about 12 to 15 years.
T5 or Terminal 5 is a terminal, but the plan would be an airport as a whole, at Changi Airport now. Not advised of the costs incurred to build the new facility, but the facility will include a third runway makes Changi Airport capacity of up to 2-fold, which is able to accommodate 51.2 million passengers last year.
Changi Airport has three terminals with a total capacity of 66 million passengers annually. In February, will begin the destruction of the terminal that was previously reserved for the budget airline, is replaced with a larger facility. The new facility, Terminal 4, will have a capacity to accommodate 16 million passengers per year when it opened in 2017.
"Do we want to remain in the position now, as a guideline airline in Southeast Asia, or we want to let others take the position of the airport, businesses and our jobs?" Lee Hsien Loong said.
Passenger traffic at Changi totaled 51.2 million people last year, the first time in the 31 year history of the airport, the number of penetrating the amount of 50 million passengers. Which since January 1, 2013, Changi has more than 6,500 weekly flights, with 110 flights connecting Singapore to over 240 cities in 60 countries.