SIA first flight in and out of Changi Airport Terminal 3
By Wong Mun Wai, Channel NewsAsia | Posted: 04 January 2008 1846 hrs

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SINGAPORE: Singapore Airlines will be the first carrier to operate from Changi Airport Terminal 3 when it opens for operations next Wednesday.

Operations will start close to noon, with SQ 001 being the first flight scheduled to arrive at the new terminal at about 11.50am.

SQ 318, bound for London, will be the first flight to depart from Terminal 3 at 12.50pm. Terminal 3 check-in counters will be operational from 9am.

With effect from 9 January, SIA will operate from both Terminals 2 and 3.

With the expansion of services, customers departing from Changi Airport will check in at Terminal 2 or 3 for their flights, depending on their destination.

Flights may arrive at either Terminal 2 or 3, and information on the arrival terminal will be available at least two hours before the estimated arrival time.

Since flights may arrive at either terminal, it will be 'quite inconvenient' for those meeting arriving passengers, said SIA passenger Justine Lee.

Another SIA passenger, Horikoshi Kenji, said: "We cannot know which terminal we should go (to). Also, Terminal 2 and Terminal 3 are very far apart. So it should be very inconvenient."

Travel company Sino-America Corporation agrees. It says that with extra checks involved, it is more inconvenient for those who are picking up their family members.

But it adds that passengers usually worry more about their departure terminal than the arrival terminal.

SIA says the information on which terminal its flights will arrive at will depend on the parking lots available.

It says it is implementing the new arrangement because of the physical constraints of operating from two terminals.

The carrier says it is not efficient to fix the arrival terminal for the planes because it can result in the towing of planes between Terminals 2 and 3. - CNA/938LIVE.