Kuala Lumpur (dpa) - Citing "the sharp decline in flight movements because of the global Covid-19 pandemic," Changi Airport in Singapore said on Tuesday that it will temporarily close its Terminal 4 from May 16.
Flights from the hub will be restricted to Terminals 1 and 3 - as well as Jewel Changi Airport, effectively a fifth terminal. Airport authorities had earlier suspended use of Terminal 2.
One of the world's busiest airports and usually a busy waystation for travellers en route from the Asia-Pacific region to Europe, Changi was on Monday was voted "World's Best Airport" for the eighth consecutive year in the Skytrax World Airport Awards.
Also on Monday, the United Nations' World Tourism Organisation reported that 100 per cent of destinations worldwide had imposed restrictions on travel, with 72 per cent shutting their borders entirely due to the pandemic.
The UNTWO has earlier predicted that global tourism in 2020 would drop by between 60 and 80 per cent.
Wealthy investment and business travel hub Singapore has also closed its borders, adding to the wider collapse in travel and tourism that caused traffic through Changi Airport to vaporise.
Airport authorities had earlier reported a 96 per cent decline in flight numbers during April and said that March passenger numbers were down 71 per cent year-on-year.
After a spike in cases of Covid-19, Singapore imposed a lockdown on April 7, suggesting that a further fall-off in traffic looms for the same month.
Singapore has reported 23,787 cases of Covid-19 - the second-highest in East Asia after China - and 21 related deaths.
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