Five more airlines to operate from Changi Airport’s new hub

Wikipedia Photo

SINGAPORE  — Five more airlines are to operate from Singapore Changi Airport’s Terminal 4 when it opens to passengers in the second half of 2017, Changi Airport Group announced on Thursday.

Korean Air, Vietnam Airlines, AirAsia Berhad, Indonesia AirAsia and Thai AirAsia will move their operations from other terminals to the new hub, which expects the movement of eight million to 10 million passengers in the initial period of operations. These airlines will be joining Asia-based Cathay Pacific, which announced its move in 2014.

The design of the new hub focuses on the experience of the passengers, making the check-in and boarding process fast, seamless and automated, Changi Airport Group said.

Passengers’ travel experience will be improved as they have more options for wider in-terminal autonomy, such as self-service check-in, an automated baggage drop and self-boarding.

Facial recognition technology will also be introduced for the first time, which will reduce the number of staff needed to perform manual visual checks of passengers.

Validation of passports and boarding passes will be scanned and verified automatically to ensure speedier clearances.

Terminal 4 has been under construction by Takenaka Corporation on the site of the demolished budget terminal with the construction contract worth nearly 1 billion Singapore dollars ( 739.9 million U.S. dollars). The new terminal is equipped to handle 16 million passengers a year, spanning an area of 195,000 square meters.