Changi flights to reach above 80% of pre-COVID levels by year-end: MoT

As of early September, the number of flights has recovered to nearly two-thirds of pre-COVID levels.

The Ministry of Transport (MoT) expects the number of flights at Changi Airport to rise to more than  80% of pre-pandemic levels by the end of 2022.

In his response to The Parliament, Transport Minister S Iswaran said the flights at the airport have already recovered to nearly two-thirds of pre-COVID-19 levels as of the first week of September.

Average weekly passenger traffic has likewise recovered to above 60% of pre-COVID-19 levels.

In anticipation of the increase, Iswaran said the airport will commence departure operations in the southern wing of Terminal 2 on 11 October.

“With this, Changi Airport will have the physical capacity to accommodate up to 100% of pre-COVID-19 passenger traffic levels, or about 70 million passengers per annum. This represents about 80% of Changi’s pre-COVID-19 capacity,” he said.

Aviation stakeholders are also planning to hire 4,000 workers between September and December. The hiring activity will bring the workforce to about 90% of its pre-COVID levels.