Changi Airport Development: Site Plan, Demand Forecast, and Commercial Management

Changi Airport is one of the largest airports in Southeast Asia and has been voted as “World Best Airport” five times in a row. This article explores the site plan, demand forecast, and commercial management of Changi Airport Development. It discusses the airport's expansion plans, passenger handling capacity, and safety measures.

Running head: AIRPORT MANAGEMENT 1
Changi Airport Development
Name
Institution Affiliate

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Changi Airport Development
Introduction
Changi Airport is considered to be one of the largest airports in Southeast Asia and one of
the best in the entire world. It has been voted as “World Best Airport” by air travelers the fifth
time in a row since the year 2013 (Swarbrooke & Horner, 2012). Changi airport began its
construction between the year 1943 to 1944 with its initial purpose to serve as a military base
under the Japanese occupation. During the 1970’s, Paya Lebar Airport was considered as the
main international airport in Singapore where it served over 300,000 people with over 30,000
flights. With the rising number of passengers, Paya Lebar Airport was reported to face numerous
challenges in the implementation of the required changes to meet the rising number of
passengers. One of the main challenges was the lack of needed room for expansion in support of
more controlled flights in line with also the increasing travel destinations (Heracleous & Wirtz,
2012).
After the reach of maximum holding capacity in Paya Lebar Airport, the government
announced, in 1975, the new airport construction would be built in Changi. The first phase of
Changi Airport was completed in the year 1981 where it served over 8 million passengers one
year after it was opened (Arulrajah, Bo, Chu, & Nikraz, 2009). Due to the demand increase, the
second phase was also completed a decade later costing a total cost of approximately 1.8 billion
dollars for the two phases completion. With the availability of room for expansion, Changi
airport has continued to expand where it aims to commence terminal 5 operations by 2025 (Bok,
2015).
Analysis of the Airport Site Plan

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Site Plan Analysis
Through the main basic initiative of master plan to minimize the congestion, the
government has continued to implement the required construction guide. This has been reflected
by the opening of terminal 4 in 2017 which has caused a significant impact in the improvement
of service delivery. The land reclamation initiative has been one of the major attributes in room
provision (Setiawan, Surjokusumo, Ma’soem, Johan, Hasyim, Kurniasih, & Nasihien, 2018).
Through this, the master plan has been a success in the construction of Changi airport as one of
the busiest airports in the world. It’s is estimated that terminal 5 will be bigger than terminal 1
and 2 combined with the ability to hold over 50 million passengers yearly. One of the main
unique characteristics of Changi Airport, it’s the availability room for expansion (Lee, Ng, Lv, &
Taezoon, 2014). The statistics review of Changi airport current location shows that the Airport
has the capability of doubling on its current size. This implies that the airport has also the
capability of handling double the average number of people served annually.
Demand Forecast Analysis
One of the main basic principle that Changi Airport has focused its emphasis on having a
successful master plan, has been the estimation requirement in passenger forecast. The four
terminals have successfully achieved the current international standards in the provision of better
services in line with the increasing demand (Freestone, 2009). Apart from constructing real-time
based infrastructure, the Airport management has been able to maximize resources utilization.
Through the increase in service demand and availability of environmental resources, i.e. room
for expansion, Changi Airport has maintained its master plan objective and keeping in check its
brand image. Example, most of the passengers have been described to always check in early in
the airport thus to be able to have experiences available (McNeill, 2009).

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Land Requirement including Runway and Taxiway configuration
Changi Airport is strategically located 17.2 km northeast of Changi center. The airport
construction was initiated through clearance of the land surrounding the former Changi Airbase.
At the beginning of the construction, the main activities of land clearance included “demolition
of over 550 buildings, clearance of nearly 200 ha (2 sq. km) of swampland, and mainly the land
reclamation project which covered approximately 870 ha (8.7 sq. km) of land” (Bok, 2015).
Generally, Changi airport has been built with two parallel runways. The main construction
implementation of phase 1 included all necessary operational buildings such as the first runway,
control tower, and passenger’s terminal. The second terminal was also designed to match the
same purpose as terminal one with only the increase of the second runway and passenger
terminal.
The airport management and the government has also emphasized the increase of the
airport effectiveness through the expansion of the third runway used by the military. The runway
is set to support much bigger planes such as cargo planes in the reduction queuing in the main
two runways (Yuan, Low, & Tang, 2010). On the same note, the airport management reported
construction of increase of runways and taxiways width due to new occurring challenge to
airport operators in handling large planes.
Passenger Terminal Building (PTB) concept and location Analysis
In the current position, Changi airport has total handling power of over 80 million
passengers with the direct exclusion of newly proposed terminal 5. In line with provisions of
accommodation, Changi Airport is linked with Crown Plaza hotel via terminal 3. Through the
Skytrain, passengers can be able to access terminal 3 from either terminal 1 and 2. Crown Plaza

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hotel was last year voted as the best airport hotel in Southeast Asia and in the entire world at
large. One of the main reasons was the ability of the hotel to link its operation with the airport
thus offering the best and accessible services to the passengers (Lee, Ng, Lv, & Taezoon, 2014).
It’s is estimated that terminal 5 will be bigger than terminal 1 and 2 combined with the ability to
hold over 50 million passengers’ yearly. With the opening of terminal 5, the airport will have the
capability of holding up to 350 million passengers’ annually with the number estimated to in
consideration of the passenger forecast.
Airport Commercial Management and Performance Analysis
Changi Airport is considered as one of the main cornerstone pillars in Singapore and the
entire world economy. Through the 2017 report analysis, the airport handles over 62.2 million
passengers annually with an expectation of 6% in increase in number. This can be described as
the result of globalization where the rising demand can be generally characterized through the
increase in international trade and relation (Swarbrooke & Horner, 2012). With this in mind,
Airports have also faced a numerous number of challenges such as the maintenance of
international standards in line with the development experiences. Example, with the airport
serving more than 100 international airlines flying in approximately more than 100 countries and
400 cities in the world. The airport has managed to win the Skytrax awards as “World’s Best
Airport” seven times in 16 years (Freestone, 2009).
Since 2011, Changi airport has a tremendous performance with the continuous lead as the
best airport in the world. In the financial report of 2017, Changi Airport is approximately worth
2.3 billion Singaporean dollars (Swarbrooke & Horner, 2012). This has placed Changi Airport as
one of the best performing airports in the world which have been led by the constant increase in
passenger’s population by approximately 6% and likewise an increase of 3.2% of total aircraft

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movements. One of the main attributes to the traffic growth has been the positive increase of
about 5.3% in Southeast Asia travels and 7.3% increase in South Asia (Lohmann, Albers, Koch,
& Pavlovich, 2009).
Advantages and Disadvantages of the Master plan
As stated earlier, one of the main basic advantages of the master plan was the choice of
location of the airport. The airport has grown with significance due to the availability of room for
expansion. The location of the master plan has also attributed the demand growth in Asia market
and other emerging due to lack of competition (Henderson, 2015). The airport boost has been
due to the ability to support huge aircraft orders. The master plan has evidently portrayed intense
capability of understanding the demand or passenger forecast in the requirement of growth and
expansion. This has also helped to maintain the effective service delivery. With the expansion of
terminal 5, the airport will have the capability of holding approximately 135 million passengers.
The region growth has also significantly boosted the airport income generation and in line
offering Changi Airport a great competitive advantage (Wang & Hong, 2011). Example, its
estimated that 22% of Changi passengers are from China and this has been described to increase
every year. Another important factor that has led the support of the master plan has been the
increased support of government and political stability structure of Singapore.
Like any other airport in the world, Changi Airport faces numerous challenges in daily
occurrences. In order to maintain its top position, the airport has mainly focused on the
maximization of demand forecasting which is regarded as the main issue after the completion of
terminal 5. With the trending focus in the air travel today, one of the main focus in every airport
master plan should be the ability to maximize non-aeronautical revenue (Henderson, 2015). This
is the income generation through airport businesses such as accommodation, parking lots, duty-

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free shops, car rentals, and many others. Changi Airport master plan should emphasize effort in
the utilization of more non-aeronautical revenue. With the current position of Changi airport, it is
estimated to increase its revenue generation by more than twenty percent (McNeill, 2009).
Changi Airport Health and Safety Mitigation Measures
With the current holding capacity in Changi Airport, one of the main basic factors the
airport management has emphasized on has been a health and safety issue. The Airport has
implemented world-class technology in support of passenger’s movement through automatic
Skytrains (Sui Pheng, Manzoor Arain, & Wong Yan Fang, 2011). The airport system has been
reported as one of the best in the world with the ability to handle flight movements with seconds
apart. The high passenger population in and out of the airport has also led the airport
management to have direct coordination with the health ministry. The airport has improvised
screening technology in major points in the airport for identification of any health hazard that
might cause any danger to the passengers. In the aspect of safety assurance, the airport
management has imposed strict policies and measures for any security threats such as terrorist
acts (Kloeckl, Senn, & Ratti, 2012). This has been one key factor in the risk and control of
airport structure.
Aside from passenger’s health and safety requirement, the airport has increased measures
in support of new challenges that have been presented to airport operators. The airport has
accounted the provision of the necessary changes in the width of the runways and taxiways in
order to support the newly developed large aircrafts such as Airbus (McNeill, 2009). Also,
Changi airport has actively been involved in climate change control in consideration that
Singapore is prone to adverse effects on climate variability such as snow and ice. The airport
safety control has set up programs for assessment changes both in land and sea and in line

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identifying any remedy for the control measures. Changi Airport has a very effective emergency
plan with the required safety infrastructure capable of handling any significant and unexpected
emergency. The safety management system in Changi Airport is considered to be one of the best
in the world with an effective response after the report of an incident (Heracleous & Wirtz,
2012).
Findings and Recommendation
Singapore Changi Airport is considered one of the world-class airports. The airport
master plan has been one of the main achievement enhancement with the allowance of variable
competitive advantages. One of the main significant factors of Changi Airport master plan has
been the ability to predetermine and maintain the demand forecast. At the current state, the
airport’s four terminals have the capability of holding more than 80 million passengers annually.
In accordance with the airport management target, Changi Airport will have the capability of
holding more than 135 million passengers after the completion of terminal 5 by 2025. Through
the completion of terminal 5, the airport will be able to maintain its competitive advantage by
offering effective service delivery in line with an increasing number of passengers (Henderson,
2015). Changi Airport has also invested a significant amount of resources in technological
advancements which have improved its service efficiency both to airlines and passengers.
Apart from Changi Airport expansion capability, aviation and transport researchers argue
that the airport will start to incur challenges in the room for expansion after the completion of
terminal 5. Through this, Changi Airport will stand to lose its significant competitive advantage
and thus its market share (Swarbrooke & Horner, 2012). The airport should focus its effort on
increasing its revenue generation through Non-Aeronautical Revenue. The master plan should be
able to improvise the changing trends in customer service requirement and in the maximization

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of available resources. On the same note, doubling of passenger demand and traffic increase is
considered a direct threat in future forecast due to challenges such as fuel (Halpern & Graham,
2013). The master plan management should spearhead the implementation of long-term remedies
in solving future occurrence of the challenge. The other factor that the airport management
should emphasize is the increase in automation and technology improvement. Through this, the
airport will be able to improve its handling capability and its service standards (Heracleous &
Wirtz, 2012).
Conclusion
In summary, the Changi Airport master plan has been very successful in the
implementation of the world-class airport. The airport has portrayed an outstanding performance
in the previous decade where it has been able to achieve five consecutive wins as “World Best
Airport” since the year 2012 (Swarbrooke & Horner, 2012). The master plan has been able to
maintain the demand forecast with the ability to expand in size. With the increase of 6% of total
passengers’ population, the airport has forecast in opening terminal 5 which is scheduled to
commence its operation by the late 2020’s (Halpern & Graham, 2013). After the commencement
of operation of terminal 5, the airport will have the capability of holding more than 135 million
passengers.
Through the constant changes that have continued to occur the master plan should be able
to maintain the service satisfaction for both the airlines and passengers. The main effort of the
airport management should be to attain the development growth in infrastructure and technology
(Heracleous & Wirtz, 2012). Through this, the airport will be able to increase its passenger
capacity in line with the achievement of effective service delivery. Also, to maintain its

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competitive advantage the master plan account of identifying long-term remedies to issues such
as an increase in the price of fuel and regional demand decrease.

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Appendix
Fig.1Traffic growth analysis.