Singapore’s Budget Terminal (BT) celebrated its first birthday showing remarkable growth, with more than 1.36 million passengers passing through the terminal and close to 120 per cent increase in…
Singapore’s Budget Terminal (BT) celebrated its first birthday showing remarkable growth, with more than 1.36 million passengers passing through the terminal and close to 120 per cent increase in weekly flights.
Served by two low cost carriers (LCCs), Tiger Airways and Cebu Pacific Airways, the BT is linked to 18 cities in theAsia Pacific region. As part of an event to celebrate the BT’s first birthday, the Civil Aviation Authority of Singapore (CAAS) organised a live shopping game for five passengers, winners of a recent shopping promotion at the BT, to vie for the grand prize of a S$10,000 travel package.
In the first month of BT’s operations last year, the average number of passengers handled per month was about 72,000. Today, the figure has grown to more than 130,000, representing an increase of about 80 per cent. With higher travel demand during the year-end holidays, passenger movements peaked in December 2006 when 173,000 passengers used the terminal.
As at 25 March 2007, the BT has received more than 1.36 million passengers with a fair mix of Singaporeans and foreigners, especially Chinese, Thai, Filipino and Vietnamese passengers.
The frequency of flights has also increased from 124 weekly flights (when the BT commenced operations) to 276 (as at 1 March 2007), of which 250 flights are operated by Tiger Airways and 26 flights by Cebu Pacific. The number of city links has also increased by 50 per cent, from 12 to 18 cities in seven countries, with Tiger Airways launching flights to the popular Australian destination of Perth just three days ago.
The other new links are to Guangzhou, Haikou, Macau, Shenzhen and Udon Thani. Some other popular travel destinations among passengers at the BT include Bangkok, Clark Field, Ho Chi Minh City and Phuket.
The strong performance of the Budget Terminal shows that the terminal has provided good support for the healthy growth of LCCs at Changi Airport. As at 1 March 2007, LCCs in Singapore operate 566 weekly flights to 27 cities, which accounts for 14.6 per cent of total passenger flights at Changi Airport compared to 10.5 per cent in April 2006.
Mr Wong Woon Liong, CAAS Director-General said, “The healthy progress made by the Budget Terminal today is testimony that the Civil Aviation Authority of Singapore had made a right decision to build a
customised terminal to meet the operational requirements of low cost carriers. We are delighted to witness the healthy passenger traffic growth at the Budget Terminal over the last twelve months. Airport shop sales
have also seen good growth, in tandem with our growth in passenger volume and supported by the various interesting and unique shopping deals organised by CAAS. Retail and food & beverage sales have increased by more than 80 per cent and 60 per cent respectively, compared to sales performance a year ago. CAAS will continue to work closely with our airline partners and airport retailers to sustain this healthy and encouraging performance.”
Vicky is the co-founder of TravelDailyNews Media Network where she is the Editor-in Chief. She is also responsible for the daily operation and the financial policy. She holds a Bachelor's degree in Tourism Business Administration from the Technical University of Athens and a Master in Business Administration (MBA) from the University of Wales. She has many years of both academic and industrial experience within the travel industry. She has written/edited numerous articles in various tourism magazines.
