See how Changi Airport registered 50 million passengers in 2012

Just two years after it crossed the 40-million milestone.

In a release, Changi Airport Group (CAG) said that since 2010 passenger traffic at Changi Airport has continued to grow strongly due to an due to an increasing number of low cost travel options and booming demand for intra-Asia travel. The number of passengers departing from, arriving at and transiting through Changi Airport rose 10.7% in 2011 and increased by another 10.1% in the first 11 months of 2012.

Changi Airport handled 46.3 million passengers from January to November 2012. This 11-month figure is already close to the 46.5 million passenger movements achieved for the whole of 2011.

Robust double-digit growth in travel to and from Northeast Asia and South Asia contributed to the increase in passenger traffic since the start of the year. Traditionally strong markets such as Southeast Asia, Southwest Pacific and Europe also continued to grow healthily, accentuating Changi’s status as a major air hub in the Asia-Pacific region.

In the month of November alone, 4.37 million passenger movements were registered, a 12.2% increase year-on-year.

As at 1 December 2012, Changi Airport serves 109 airlines operating some 6,400 weekly scheduled flights to and from more than 230 cities in 60 countries and territories worldwide.

Mr Lee Seow Hiang, CAG’s Chief Executive Officer, said “Despite a sluggish global economy and an uncertain outlook for air travel, Changi Airport has risen against the challenges to deliver another record breaking year in 2012. This is the outcome of our strong partnerships with airlines like Garuda and concerted proactive efforts with them to grow air links and increase flight frequencies.

In terms of passenger traffic, Indonesia remains Changi Airport’s top country market, accounting for 13.4% of total traffic handled at Changi from January to November 2012. During this period some 6.2 million passenger movements to and from Indonesia were registered, representing a healthy 8.6% growth for the market on a year-on-year basis.

There is strong connectivity between Indonesia and Singapore, with a wide network of air links to 16 Indonesian cities via 1,000 weekly flights operated by 16 airlines. From January to November 2012, there were 3.7 million passenger movements on the Jakarta-Singapore route, making the Indonesian capital Changi’s busiest city link out of a total of over 230 cities links worldwide. Two other Singapore routes – to Kuala Lumpur and Bangkok – are also among the world’s five busiest international routes based on seat capacity.