Move over Hong Kong, Singapore’s ‘pandemic-proof’ automated airport terminal plans are ready for take off

A gigantic fifth passenger terminal at Changi could handle 50 million travellers a year and will be one of the largest and most automated in the world

Plans include cameras and technology to bypass the traditional flight control tower, a laser-guided passenger bridge, and automated baggage unloading

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Changi International Airport’s new terminal could serve as a model for other global airports to prepare for events that are out of their control after the pandemic decimated the travel industry. Photo: AFP

Published: 5:33pm, 22 Aug 2022Updated: 10:40am, 23 Aug 2022

Singapore will start work on a fifth terminal at Changi Airport – regularly voted among the world’s best – with a revised design that allows it to adjust capacity during a pandemic, as the city state works to cement its place as Asia’s primary aviation hub.

“In the longer term, air travel will keep growing because of the fast expanding middle-class in our region”, Prime Minister Lee Hsien Loong said in his National Day Rally address on Sunday. “We redesigned T5 to be more resilient, in particular to operate more safely and flexibly during a pandemic, to scale operations up and down more easily, and to isolate passengers from different flights to limit cross-infection”.

The terminal, expected to be completed in the middle of the next decade, could serve as a model for other global airports to prepare for events that are out of their control after the pandemic decimated the travel industry. Even before Covid-19, Changi had ambitious plans for a heavily automated terminal, minimising touch points and letting robots do the bulk of the work. The virus served as a catalyst to fine-tune those plans.

Singapore also has an opportunity to get ahead of arch rival Hong Kong, which already has similar capacity to Changi, but where strict Covid-19 restrictions mean flight activity remains limited. In contrast, Singapore is gradually lifting most curbs, and even plans to scrap rules for wearing masks in most indoor settings.

While other airports are looking at similar designs, most don’t have such ambitious expansion projects, giving Changi an edge to build airfields designed for a post-pandemic era, said Brendan Sobie, Singapore-based founder of consultancy Sobie Aviation.

“Singapore is always trying to stay ahead of the curve and maintain its position as a leading hub for this region”, Sobie said. “Changi has an opportunity to take the lead in terms of post-pandemic airport design and it is hardly a surprise it’s keen to do just that given its history and continued aspirations”.

[This new terminal] will show the world what sort of place Singapore is

Singapore Prime Minister Lee Hsien Loong

The gigantic Terminal 5, a monster building opposite the four existing terminals and capable of handling 50 million travellers a year, will be one of the largest and most automated passenger terminals in the world. The plans include an array of cameras and technology that bypass the traditional flight control tower, a laser-guided bridge that positions itself to let fliers disembark, and automated vehicles to unload baggage.