More passenger and air cargo traffic are expected at Singapore Changi Airport, as the airport receives a record of some 4,000 weekly scheduled flights for the new Northern Winter Season, which spans from 30 October 2005 to 25 March 2006. This is an increase of about 100 flights from some 3,900 weekly scheduled flights in the Northern Summer 2005 season (27 March 2005 – 29 October 2005). Today, there are 83 airlines at Singapore, setting yet another record high for Changi Airport.

The flight increases are mainly to Southeast Asia and North Asia, with the former contributing to more than half of the increase. The destinations in Southeast Asia seeing more flights from Singapore include Bandung, Cebu, Clark and Yangon. In North Asia, the additional flights are mainly to China. Air China, China Eastern, Shandong Airlines and SilkAir have upped the number of weekly flights to cities such as Hangzhou, Jinan, Kunming, Shenzhen and Xiamen. There are also more flights to South Korea and Taiwan.

These increases by both foreign and local carriers reaffirm Changi Airport’s status as a vibrant international air hub.

Two new airlines, AdamAir and Yangtze River Express, have joined the Changi’s family. AdamAir, which began operations from Jakarta on 28 October 2005, is Changi Airport’s fifth Indonesian airline, after Garuda, Merpati, Lion Air and Republic Express. It is set to cater to the expected strong passenger traffic demand between Indonesia and Singapore.

On 1 November 2005, Changi Airport welcomed its first cargo airline from China - Yangtze River Express. Serving Singapore from both Shanghai and Nanning with six flights a week, its operations have resulted in a new city link in Nanning for Changi and increased Changi’s city links with China to 18. Singapore is the carrier`s first scheduled destination in Southeast Asia.

These two airlines join Jet Airways, Air Sahara and Pakistan International Airlines as new airlines which began operations to Changi Airport in 2005.

In addition, a third new airline, LOT Polish, has started serving the Singapore and Warsaw market on 30 October 2005 on a code-sharing basis with Singapore Airlines. Warsaw, the capital of Poland, is a new city link for Changi. Another new addition on Changi’s network is Wilmington in Ohio, USA, connected by Northwest Airlines’ cargo services.

“We are encouraged by the strong growth in flight movements at Changi Airport and we welcome the 3 new carriers to Changi Airport. This is a testament of the strong partnership between CAAS and its airline partners. CAAS will continue to proactively help airlines grow their operations in Singapore, and to attract new carriers into the Changi family.” said Mr Wong Woon Liong, Director-General of Civil Aviation, Civil Aviation Authority of Singapore (CAAS).

There are now 83 airlines connecting Singapore to over 175 cities in some 57 countries.