Ellyne Phneah
Image credit: Changi Airport Group
Changi Airport Group (CAG) has completed the construction of Terminal 4 (T4) last year and conducted the open house last month. Today, it has announced the next milestone: T4 will begin operations on 31 Oct 2017.
This follows a series of more than 100 trials involving 2,500 airport staff and 1,500 volunteers. The trials involved selected commercial flights with airline partners at T4, and were necessary to validate the interoperability and process integration of the airport and airlines’ system.
Image credit: Changi Airport Group
Since October last year, CAG has collaborated with its airport partners to prepare T4 for flight operations. They began with table-top exercises to develop the standard operating procedures, followed by ground deployment exercises to familiarise staff with the new terminal and processes.
Volunteers from the airport community and public were also invited to role-play as passengers to test the critical airport systems and processes. These exercises include the Fast and Seamless Travel (FAST) self-service options at check-in, bag drop, immigration and boarding, as well as security screening, baggage handling, flight information, ground transport, way-finding, and transfer processes.
Image credit: Changi Airport Group
The operation of nine T4 airlines will also be shifted to T4 over a period of one week from 31 October onwards, with Cathay Pacific being the first arrival and departing flights. The other airlines include Korean Air, Spring Airlines, Cebu Pacific, AirAsia Group (of four airlines) and Vietnam Airlines.
“The past months have been a very crucial period for us as we conducted intensive tests and trials, not only to ensure that the systems work well, but also to understand how passengers navigate the new terminal, including interacting with initiatives such as FAST which may be less familiar to them. We will take the next few weeks to complete the last set of trials as we prepare for the commencement of operations at T4,” said Tan Lye Teck, CAG’s Executive Vice President (Airport Management).
T4 is set to add 16 million passengers to Changi Airport annually, bringing the airport’s total annual handling capacity to 82 million passenger movements.
Information extracted from a press release issued by Changi Airport Group.
