Changi International Airport: Operations, Cargo Handling, and Enhancements

Running head: CHANGI INTERNATIONAL AIRPORT 1
Changi International Airport
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Operations at Changi International Airline
Activities within The Changi International Airport cover both cargo and passengers handling.
Generally, the airport has both large and smaller aircraft to serve international as well as
domestic destinations respectively. Central to its operations is the hub and spoke model
which creates efficiency in the scheduling of flights, passengers, and cargo (Ashford, Stanton,
& Moore, 2013). Here at Changi airport, an intermodal hub and spoke system which provides
both seas to air and air to road services runs the system. This system has so far worked well
and blends well with a robust Road Freight Services connection with well managed national
roads networks connecting the airport. Again, this road network further helps in scheduling
air shipment, and during operations, transportation of all cargo occurs at the airway bill.
Custom’s clearance is, however, done at the warehouse of the feeder airports. This system is
efficient and has boosted the operations of Changi International Airport as it enables an
airfreight carrier on transit to sell services without landing. These nearby on transit airports
can then act as hubs for different airlines.
Initially, Changi airport only used to serve a large integrator but is currently having both a
large integrator and a dominant national carrier. This broadband service necessitated by the
Singapore’s government aimed at improvement of airport infrastructure, and further transfer
of most operations to private management (Visser, Hebly, & Wijnen, 2009). The performance
of the airport has since significantly improved.
The Changi airline has also employed an ingenious mechanism to promote its cargo services
by designing the airport as a “tech stop.” “This paradigm shift has changed the services
offered at the airports from the initial fueling, crew changes, and catering services to now
cargo transfer” (Price & Forrest, 2016). “Some of the factors favoring Changi International
Airport in this new venture is its strategic position along the major air routes, its affordable

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charges for fueling, crew accommodations as well as excellent aircraft maintenance
facilities.” Over the few years of its set up, these tech shops have immensely grown into hub
operations due to Singapore’s economic growth in the last 20 years.
Young and Wells (2014), further argues that a conducive regulatory environment for
international flights based on the charges levied, cost of cargo handling services, the
possibility of getting third-party services and airfield resources have significantly influenced
the effectiveness of the airport in cargo operations.
Cargo and Freight Handling
Like most international airlines, cargo handling at Changi International Airport entails the
initial preparation of cargo shipment, loading, and unloading of the aircraft, and the transfer
of cargo between the storage facilities and land transport. According to Georisk et al. (2011),
“preparation of outbound cargo, however, includes collection of cargo, assembly of air cargo
containers, inspection, and documentation. Sorting and preparation of inbound cargo majorly
focus on customs and other regulatory procedures and deconsolidation.” The airport also
handles cargo transshipment, and the operations are limited to unloading, reconsolidation,
and reloading or, in some instances, merely direct transfers from aircraft to aircraft.
In trying to shorten the time that cargos remain at the airport, Changi International Airport
has storage facilities, both bonded (imports and cargo on transshipment), cold rooms (for
short shelf life cargo), and X- ray scanners to inspect outbound cargo. The airport has open
warehouses with high ceilings and racks for storage of its cargo- most of which are of low
density. In Bitzan & In Peoples (2017), clarifies that the warehouse needs to be structurally
designed to accommodate rapid movement of goods to and from the trucks.
The value chain analysis of Changi International Airport