Changi Airport jacks up fees, introduces new service charges

Passengers who depart from the airport to take their connecting flights will have to pay a Passenger Service Charge (PSC) or Passenger Security Service Charge (PSSC) of S$9.00 and S$3.00, respectively, starting April 2011.

Changi Airport Group has announced revisions to its aeronautical fees at Singapore Changi Airport. Aside from new fees to be imposed on terminal and transit passengers, the PSC for passengers using the Budget Terminal (BT) will be revised to S$7.80, with the PSSC remaining unchanged. Total passenger fees paid by BT passengers, including the PSC, PSSC an Aviation Levy2, will increase from S$15.00 presently to S$18.00.

Aircraft landing fees at Changi will also be raised, resulting in a 15% average increase in the airlines’ landing, parking and aerobridge (LPA) bill, with a larger increase for narrow-body aircraft. CAG will extend its landing fee rebate of up to 10% for all airlines until 31 March 2012.

In a statement, the airport operator said, “the fee revisions comply with the economic regulation framework governing the operations of Changi Airport, and are necessary to allow CAG to recover part of its aeronautical costs, which remain heavily subsidised. A substantial portion of CAG’s profit from its non-aeronautical businesses goes towards subsidising the company’s aeronautical expenses.”

"User pays" principle

The introduction of the PSC and PSSC for transfer and transit passengers reflects CAG’s desire to adopt a ‘user pays’ principle as far as possible. Transfer/transit passengers have access to facilities and services in the transit areas of Changi, including holding rooms, transfer counters, flight information display, People Mover System, free internet access, general amenities etc.

Landing fee rebates still available

Presently, the landing fees for narrow-body aircraft are disproportionately lower compared to larger aircraft types at Changi. As such, the fee adjustment for the former is larger so as to reduce the under-pricing for narrow-body aircraft.

CAG will extend its current landing fee rebate to all airlines from 1 January 2011 until 31 March 2012. Airlines will enjoy an automatic rebate of 5% and a maximum of another 5% if they maintain their flight frequency at Changi Airport.

The landing fee partially recovers the costs associated with the airfield system including runways, taxiways, roadways in the airside, airfield lighting, apron maintenance and costs of providing standby emergency services for the airlines.

In addition, the costs of services provided by the Civil Aviation Authority of Singapore, such as air navigation services, are also recovered from landing fees.