Four more airlines began their flight operations at Singapore Changi Airport’s new Terminal 3 on Wednesday, 26 March 2008. China Eastern Airlines, Jet Airways, Qatar Airways and United Airlines will join Singapore Airlines and shift their operations from Terminal 1 to Terminal 3. Singapore Airlines has been operating at Terminal 3 since the terminal begins operations on 9 January 2008.

Among the four airlines, China Eastern Airline’s flight was the first to arrive and depart from Terminal 3. Flight MU545 from Shanghai arrived at Terminal 3 on Tuesday, 25 March 2008. The same aircraft will departed for Shanghai on 26 March 2008.

For the other three airlines, United Airlines handled its first arrival flight from Atlanta (via Chicago and Hong Kong) on Tuesday, 25 March 2008, while its first departure flight took off on 26 March 2008. Jet Airways handled its first arrival flight from Mumbai and first departure flight to Chennai. Qatar Airways saw its arrival flight from Jakarta and first departure flight to Doha on the same dates.

Since February 2008, the four airlines have undergone integrated airport system trials at Terminal 3 involving passenger check-in, baggage handling, staff familiarisation and “live” commercial trial flights to test the actual passenger departure and arrival processes. The objective of these trials is to ensure that the airlines establish, integrate and test their systems and procedures in a live-like environment ahead of their shift to Terminal 3. The trials also provide opportunities for the airlines’ staff to familiarise themselves with the new terminal.

CAAS has put in place measures to communicate the commencement of operations by these four airlines at Terminal 3. These include the updating of airport directories and signs within the terminal buildings as well as dissemination of circulars and vehicle decals to ground transport service providers such as coach and taxi drivers to generate awareness.