Queues 'completely unexpected': Crowds form at Changi Airport on day 1 of relaxed travel measures

SINGAPORE - Queues in front of check-in counters - not seen since the pandemic hit in 2020 - made a welcome return to Changi Airport on Friday morning (April 1).

The previously mostly empty terminals had people towing luggages and others checking flight schedules on the now busy display screens. Crowds formed along the walkways and cafes enjoyed brisk business.

On the first day of Singapore's doing away with vaccinated travel lane flights for quarantine-free travel and on-arrival tests, a tentative sense of normality returned to Terminals 1 and 3.

Friday's scene is a far cry from just last September, when both terminals were completely shut due to a Covid-19 cluster forming among airport staff, offering hope that Singapore can once more take flight as an air hub.

Mr Franklin Tang, 44, queued for an hour to check in on Friday, despite reaching the airport at 7.45am for a 10am flight to the Maldives.

The line was completely unexpected, the chief executive of a property technology company said. He and his family are visiting one of the newly opened Maldives resorts, and had booked tickets before the announcement to scrap VTL flights was made last week.

"It's nice to hold an actual plane ticket in my hand. There were quite a few flights in the morning to different places but only one row for check-in was open. Some automated check-in machines also could not be used so we had to get in line," he told The Straits Times.

"I read that operations are being ramped up now so maybe this is the transition period. It's certainly exciting to travel again."

According to Changi Airport Group data, 703,000 people used Changi Airport in February, up from 118,000 a year ago. Transport Minister S. Iswaran has said that more travellers are expected in the coming months, with Terminal 2 slated to be reopened in phases.

Airlines caution that it is too early to speak decidedly of an upward trend, with the number of flights each day yet to change dramatically, but the removal of the VTL cap on passengers has had an instant effect in Changi.

The authorities' target for airport traffic to return to 50 per cent of pre-pandemic levels this year now seems more within reach. It was at about 13 per cent last month. 

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The crowd on Friday included those who have not travelled in a long time, and families who finally have a chance to reunite. Malaysia, too, reopened its borders on Friday, giving Malaysians and Singaporeans the opportunity to fly more frequently between the neighbouring countries.

Ms Nicky Chan, 26, a hairstylist who works in Singapore, booked her flight to Penang after learning of the loosening of travel measures last week.

She had not seen her family in Malaysia for more than a year, and did not manage to book a flight back home during Chinese New Year.

"It was too much of a hassle," she said. "VTL flights are harder to arrange and I might not be able to get one back to Singapore. (Flying on a non-VTL flight), I would have to miss many weeks of work and quarantine away from my family which defeats the purpose of returning home."

Malaysian Jamunah Krishnan, a 40-year-old production operator for a wafer company, was stepping foot here for the first time after two years of working for a Singapore company from home in Kuala Lumpur.

"It feels so good to be back. I miss the food here," she said.

Cafes and restaurants in the Changi Airport terminals said they are already seeing more business.

A spokesman for Coffee Club at Terminal 3 said the number of customers has doubled in recent weeks and his outlet is now short-staffed, after many employees returned home to Malaysia during the pandemic.

Mr Piyara Singh, a supervisor at restaurant Root 98 and TGM in Terminal 1, is now more upbeat about prospects. The eatery serves about 200 tables on weekends and 150 on weekdays, compared to about 100 daily last year.

"Usually when I start at 11am, we will no longer have any customers after the morning flight crowd dies down, but today we still have five tables. Management is looking into hiring more people after we lost some staff in the last two years," he said.

Ms Fang Ping, a 29-year-old sales assistant at Terminal 3's Bengawan Solo, said the bakery had more patrons than usual on Friday.

"Usually, the crowd in the departure hall dies down at 8 to 9am but it's 11am, and the queues are still long," she noted.

About 90 per cent of tenants in the public areas of the terminals and 65 per cent of those in the immigration halls have reopened, ST understands.

Global passenger volume has now returned to 55 per cent of pre-Covid-19 levels.

The region is closely watched by observers, who have said that intra-South-east Asian flights post-pandemic should grow at a rate of 6.7 per cent, higher than the global average of 4 per cent, and emerging as the fifth largest market in the world in the near future.

S'pore eases travel restrictions

Entry approval

• Fully vaccinated travellers do not require any entry approvals to enter Singapore; this means that travellers who were required to apply for vaccinated travel passes no longer need to do so. The air travel pass required as part of Singapore’s unilateral opening to Macau, China and Taiwan will no longer be required as well.

Testing

• Fully vaccinated travellers will still be required to take a pre-departure test within two days before departing for Singapore and obtain a negative test result. But they will no longer need to take any Covid-19 tests after arrival in Singapore.

Designated flights and quotas

• Fully vaccinated travellers can enter Singapore on any flights without having to serve quarantine from April 1. There will no longer be any quotas applied on daily arrivals.

Vaccination status

• Travellers will be able to show all vaccination certificates regardless of place of issuance as proof of vaccination. These certificates are not required to be digitally verifiable. Children aged 12 years and below are exempted from the vaccination requirement, in line with domestic measures.

Singapore Arrival Card

• The existing SG Arrival Card will be simplified such that they can be completed easily. Travellers will just need to submit  their personal particulars, vaccination status and health declaration.

This article was first published in The Straits Times. Permission is required for reproduction.