Passenger movements in Changi down 32.8% in February

Traffic to major travel markets declined across the board including China (-92%).

Passenger movements in Changi Airport crashed 32.8% YoY in February to 3.45 million, an announcement revealed.

Aircraft movements fell by 12.3% to 26,200 landings and takeoffs, whilst airfreight throughput rose 7.6% to 147,000 tonnes over the same period. The spike in airfreight throughput in February was largely due to urgent fulfillment of backlogs after a prolonged factory shutdown in China and the extra leap-year day.

All regions except Africa recorded declines. Travel to Southeast Asia and Northeast Asia was impacted the most, with 1.5 million fewer passenger movements compared to the same period last year. Traffic to major travel markets declined across the board including China (-92%), Hong Kong (-75%), South Korea (-46%), Taiwan (-38%) and Thailand (-33%).

The passenger traffic at Changi Airport also fell 12.9% to 9.40 million during the first two months of 2020, whilst aircraft movements totalled 59,700, a decrease of 4.7% YoY.

As of 9 March, due to various flight cancellations, the available seat capacity at Changi Airport for the month of March 2020 has declined by close to 30%, compared to what was originally scheduled.