News
Changi Airport reports 6% growth, to 62.2 million passengers, in 2017
January 26th 2018
Singapore’s Changi Airport remains popular with passengers and freight handlers. In 2017, Changi handled a record 62.2 million passengers, up 6% year-on-year. Read More » Aircraft movements increased 3.5%, to 373,200 take-offs and landings.
Changi’s cargo business grew even more rapidly. For the 12 months to December 31, air freight throughput grew by 7.9%, crossing the two-million tonne mark for the first time, to reach 2.13 million tonnes for the year. The airport reported that December 22 was its busiest day of the year; it handled 208,043 passengers that day.
Changi said traffic across all regions saw positive growth in 2017, with Southeast and Northeast Asia contributing approximately 70% of total volume. China and India led the traffic table, wiith a robust double-digit growth of 12% and 16%, respectively.
Kuala Lumpur replaced Jakarta in 2017 as Changi’s busiest route. Among the airport’s top 20 destinations, Guangzhou was the fastest growing (+15%), while Brisbane, Penang and Phuket each recorded growth of more than 6%. During the year, three new carriers began flying to Changi – Hebei Airlines, Norwegian and US-Bangla Airlines.
Airlines added ten routes from Singapore in 2017. Singapore Airlines low-cost subsidiary, Scoot, began flying to Athens, Harbin and Honolulu. New services were: Hebei Airlines connected Singapore with Shijiazhuang and Yantai, AirAsia started flying to Bintulu, Norwegian to Stockholm, SilkAir to Hiroshima, Jetstar to Okinawa and Air India Express to Madurai.
“Looking ahead in 2018, we expect to see more developments in the long-haul segments to Europe. This includes Scoot's non-stop service to Berlin and LOT Polish Airlines' new service connecting Singapore and Warsaw,” said Changi Airport Group’s Managing Director, Air Hub Development. Lim Ching Kiat.
“We will also welcome the return of Qantas' Singapore-London route, an overall increase in seat capacity between Singapore and Australia as well as Lufthansa's resumption of its service to Munich. At the same time, we will continue our efforts to strengthen our connectivity to secondary cities in China and India – our fastest growing markets in 2017.”
