New round of upgrades to Changi Terminal 1; Arrival hall to be expanded, while basement, road will be redeveloped

CHANGI Airport's Terminal 1 is headed for another round of renovations, just as the finishing touches are being put on its four-year makeover.

The arrival hall on the first floor of the four-storey facility will be expanded outwards to boost the terminal's capacity from 21 million to 24 million passengers. The basement will also be redeveloped, as will the road that now separates the building from the carpark, Changi Airport Group (CAG) told The Straits Times yesterday.

There are also plans to link the main terminal building to a new multistorey complex that will be sited at the terminal's open-air carpark, CAG spokesman Ivan Tan said, though how this will be done has not been finalised yet.

Construction will begin within 12 months, from April next year.

These plans are being drawn up even as the guest list is being finalised to celebrate the grand opening of the new T1. The $500 million overhaul, which began in May 2008, has added more shops and restaurants to the terminal, among other enhancements.

These latest plans follow a March announcement by Minister of State for Transport Josephine Teo. She said then that the airport would embark on new projects to stay competitive against regional rivals - such as a new multistorey complex for T1, and a bigger facility to replace the Budget Terminal.

Industry observers said the move to increase T1's handling capacity and link the terminal to the new complex - thus incorporating aviation-related facilities in the new complex - could alter the development charge levied by the Urban Redevelopment Authority (URA) for such projects.

Typically, a purely commercial facility will incur a higher charge. This is a one-time fee, on top of annual rent that CAG pays the Civil Aviation Authority of Singapore (CAAS), which is the landowner.

CAG's Mr Tan said that when T1's upgrading plans were finalised in the mid-2000s, the focus was on improving its facilities and creating more space in the transit areas. CAG began to look at how to increase the terminal's handling capacity after the group was formed in 2009, he added.

This is due in part to strong traffic growth in the past few years, Mr Tan said. Apart from fast-growing low-cost carriers like AirAsia and Jetstar, T1 is also home to big carriers like Emirates, Qantas and British Airways.

In the first quarter of this year, the airport handled 12.3 million passengers, beating last year's January-March numbers by 12.9 per cent. If the current growth rate continues, the airport could process more than 50 million passengers for the full year - a figure that was earlier expected only next year, the airport said.

Mr Tan said the new plans for T1 would not undo the upgrading work of the past four years.

Plans for the new T1 complex include dedicated facilities to support fly-cruise and fly-coach options.

A URA spokesman said development charges and other details will be confirmed when the final plans are submitted.

The airport operator is said to be in discussions with private developers, including CapitaLand and Lend Lease, on the feasibility of developing the complex jointly.

None would confirm the talks, but Mr Tan said all options are being considered. These include possible partnerships with experienced local and overseas players.

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