Flying high: Changi Airport’s passenger movements up 13.6% to a record 4.17m

Flights in Changi also also increased 14.7% year-on-year to 25,908 in July.

According to a release, Singapore Changi Airport marked its 30th anniversary in July 2011 by handling a record 4.17 million passenger movements during the month. This is an increase of 13.6% compared to July 2010, and surpasses the previous monthly high of 4.06 million passenger movements in December 2010. Year-to-date, passenger movements grew 11.2% to 26.6 million.

July 2011 was also Changi’s busiest month ever in terms of aircraft movements, which increased 14.7% on-year to 25,908 flights. Low cost carriers (LCCs) led the growth with an increase of 27.8% while full service carriers (FSCs) grew 10.1%. In terms of passengers carried, LCCs and FSCs grew by 28.5% and 9.3% respectively.

Passenger traffic growth was strongest for Eastern Europe, North East Asia and South East Asia, which each registered double-digit increases. Traffic between Singapore and Tokyo (3.1%) and all of Japan (7.8%) improved on-year for the first time since the earthquake and tsunami in March this year.

During the month, Changi Airport welcomed Batavia Air’s new thrice-weekly service to Bandung – the capital of Indonesia’s West Java province. As at 1 August 2011, Changi Airport serves 100 airlines operating more than 5,800 weekly flights to some 200 cities in 60 countries and territories.

On the cargo front, 160,000 tonnes were moved in July 2011, representing a growth of 1.2% over the same period last year. For the first seven months of the year, 1.07 million tonnes were handled, an increase of 3.0%.