Changi Airport traffic crosses 90pc pre-pandemic levels

Singapore : Passenger traffic between Singapore and South Korea crossed pre-pandemic levels by 36 per cent in October 2023, Changi Airport's operator said on November 28. This growth has, in turn, helped to drive the airport's post-pandemic rebound, with overall passenger figures in October recovering to 90.7 per cent of 2019 levels, the highest percentage since Covid-19 struck.

The previous peak was in May, 2023, when the recovery stood at 89.5 per cent. Since then, the recovery rate has been hovering below 90 per cent, due to the number of visitor arrivals to Singapore, Changi Airport Group said, as per reports.

In October, 2023, 5.12 million travellers passed through the airport, compared with 5.65 million in October 2019, according to reports citing data released by CAG and the Civil Aviation Authority of Singapore.

About 28,700 commercial flights took off from or landed at Changi, amounting to 89.8 per cent of the flights in October 2019.

Reports cited CAG saying the South Korean market has seen the strongest recovery so far in 2023 among the airport's top 10 markets. Behind it are India, which is at 102 per cent of pre-pandemic levels compared with 2019, and Australia, at 94 per cent.

Another factor behind the growing demand has been a corresponding increase in flight capacity by airlines.