S Iswaran on air travel and Changi Airport's recovery

Air travel has recovered steadily since Singapore reopened its borders to all fully vaccinated travellers, said Transport Minister S Iswaran. As of the first week of September, average weekly passenger traffic at Changi Airport recovered to above 60 per cent of pre-COVID-19 levels and has held steadily at that level, he said. The number of flights at Changi Airport recovered to nearly two-thirds of pre-COVID-19 levels. The number of flights which airlines have filed to operate at Changi Airport by the year-end is more than 80 per cent of pre-COVID-19 levels. This is expected to increase further as airlines respond to demand from travellers following the recent border easing announcements by key travel markets like Hong Kong, Japan and Taiwan. Mr Iswaran gave this update in reply to MPs' questions in Parliament on Monday (Oct 3). He said Changi Airport will have the physical capacity to accommodate up to 70 million passengers per annum, which is about 100 per cent of the passenger traffic levels before the pandemic. This also represents about 80 per cent of Changi's pre-COVID-19 capacity itself. Mr Iswaran said aviation stakeholders have been concurrently working hard to build up their workforce and train their new hires to support this ramp-up in capacity. The air transport sector workforce recovered to about 80 per cent of pre-COVID-19 levels in the first half of the year, he said. Aviation stakeholders aim to hire another 4,000 workers between September and the end of this year. Cumulatively, this will hit about 90 per cent of the pre-COVID-19 workforce. Mr Iswaran expressed confidence that Changi Airport will be ready to welcome more passengers back to Singapore and offer them the "distinctive traveller experience" that Changi is known for.