Some flights to be retimed over May Day long weekend, says Changi Airport Group

SINGAPORE - Air travellers on a few flights over the May Day long weekend will be affected by changes to flight timings.

In response to queries, Changi Airport Group (CAG) on Thursday (April 28) said that there will be retiming of a "very small number of flights" to spread them apart during the extremely high peak periods.

It comes amid a rapid increase in air traffic, following Singapore's move to open its borders up to all vaccinated travellers on April 1.

More travellers are expected over the coming long weekend.

A CAG spokesman said the aviation sector is increasing its capacity to meet growing air travel demand.

It is also working closely with its partners to smoothen on-ground operations.

This would cover all areas, from check-in to airside operations.

"Moving forward, as airlines apply to launch more flights to serve Changi Airport, our aim is to accommodate their slots applications as much as possible subject to suitable timings and our airport partners having the resources to manage the higher traffic," the spokesman added.

"This will ensure a smooth airport experience for our passengers."

During the Good Friday long weekend earlier in April, about 400,000 air passengers passed through Singapore.

This was about 31 per cent of the average weekly passenger traffic in 2019, the last comparable period before the pandemic.

About a month ago, the average weekly passenger traffic was 18 per cent of numbers in 2019.

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CAG said operations over the Good Friday long weekend were generally smooth, except for an instance of inclement weather with lightning warnings which caused some delay to baggage delivery.

Singapore is aiming by this the end of this year to restore passenger traffic through Changi Airport to half of the levels seen before the pandemic.

Transport Minister S. Iswaran had said last month that the air transport sector was at about two-thirds to three-quarters of the level before the pandemic.

But it was an improvement over the lows recorded during the pandemic, a period which saw some firms in the sector record attrition rates as high as 50 per cent.

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