Changi Airport recorded an all-time high of 58.7 million passengers in 2016, a growth of 5.9 per cent on 2015, Changi Airport Group announced in a statement on Monday (Jan 30).
Aircraft movements rose 4.1 per cent for the year to 360,490, while airfreight throughput increased by 6.3 per cent to hit a new high of 1.97 million tonnes.
The airport saw its busiest day in its history on Dec 23, 2016, with 202,359 passengers passing through its gates. For the month of December alone, Changi handled a total of 5.68 million passengers, up 7.2 per cent from 2015.
Routes to Southeast Asia, Northeast Asia and Oceania contributed 90 per cent of the growth in passenger traffic in 2016. China moved from fifth to become Changi Airport’s third largest country market for the year, a growth of 15 per cent.
Visitor arrivals from Thailand and Vietnam also grew in 2016, up 6 per cent and 8 per cent respectively from 2015.
Jakarta remained as Changi’s busiest route in 2016, followed by Kuala Lumpur and Bangkok. New destinations included: Amritsar and Jaipur in India, Urumqi in China, the Australian capital Canberra, Wellington in New Zealand, Nadi in Fiji, Sapporo in Japan and Dusseldorf in Germany.
“Despite a backdrop of economic and socio-political uncertainties, we maintain a positive outlook for the year ahead,” said Changi Airport Group CEO Lee Seow Hiang. “We see opportunities in emerging markets within Africa and Eastern Europe.
“At the same time, we will continue to grow our long haul routes to Western Europe, and strengthen our connectivity within the region to secondary cities in South East Asia, China and India.”
Changi Airport is the world's sixth busiest for international traffic, based on 2015 figures, and is expected to open its fourth terminal later this year.
Source : Channel News Asia
