Construction of Terminal 5 (T5) at Changi Airport, Singapore, is expected to begin in 2025, the government of Singapore has announced.
Transport Minister S Iswaran provided the update during his speech at the Ministry of Transport Committee of Supply Debate 2023 on Building a Resilient, Sustainable and Inclusive Transport System.
Land preparation and drainage works have been completed at Changi East, while the third runway is also expected to be completed towards the later part of 2030.
In addition, the Singapore Government plans to invest a further $2bn in the Changi Airport Development Fund.
T5 was initially announced in 2013 and is scheduled to be operational around the mid-2030s.
In August last year, Changi Airport resumed the T5 project after revising its designs to make them more environmentally friendly.
Work on the project had been suspended for two years due to the Covid-19 pandemic.
The T5 project is being undertaken by the Singaporean Ministry of Transport (MOT), the Civil Aviation Authority of Singapore (CAAS) and Changi Airport Group (CAG).
Minister Iswaran said that to meet the increase in flights and passengers at the airport ahead of T5’s opening, Changi Airport Group has worked out operational plans with airport stakeholders.
In January this year, Singapore Changi Airport said that it handled 32.2 million passengers last year.
Growing at this rate, the airport’s passenger levels will reach their pre-pandemic rates by next year, according to Iswaran.
During the year, aircraft movements, including landings and take-offs, reached 219,000, which is 57.2% of their pre-pandemic figure.
In addition, airfreight throughput was 1.85 million tonnes, a year-on-year fall of 4.8%.
In a statement, Changi Airport said: “In 2022, all regions registered strong recovery in passenger traffic, with North America even slightly exceeding pre-Covid levels on a full-year basis, and Southwest Pacific, South Asia, and Europe each reaching two-thirds of 2019 traffic.”
