Singapore Changi Update – LCCs Already Account For One Third Of Traffic At The Major Global Hub And Low Cost Long Haul growth Could Grow That Share In The Future

Transcript

Ching Kiat LimThe low cost airlines on the whole at Changi account for about one third of our traffic volume at Changi. So we have a few key, low cost airlines at Changi Airport including Scoot, Jetstar, and also AirAsia Group. So definitely low cost and long haul low cost is an area we pay a lot of attention to, to see how that develops.

Changi today has a very comprehensive network into Europe. We're connected to 19 cities in Europe but among the cities we are not connected to Madrid is one of the highest in terms of unserved cities with the highest OMD. So we're interested to talk to partners, low cost or full service, to try to get a direct link between Singapore and Madrid.

I think it's less of what they can offer from Changi but more as today's panelists have said, what the passengers want, what end consumers want. If the end consumers see the need for such a product, as an airport we would like to offer these services to the consumers. So we are always thinking and working with airlines, both full service and low cost airlines, to see what new product we can bring to our customers. I think long haul has introduced some new idea, like long haul low cost. So if these ideas get traction with the consumers, we want these flights at Changi as well.

You're right. I think the long haul low cost model is fast evolving. I think there's always talk about collaboration and it's not just long haul, it's also about long haul full service connecting with short haul low cost. So in terms of connectivity I think we are still trying to get at a stage where everyone can connect, every airline can connect. But I think the good thing is for Changi, our current service is already quite good, so even for self-connections someone flying in from Europe to Singapore on full service and then hopping onto a low cost airline, the airport on its own is quite easy for them to maneuver. So we are quite fortunate to be like that but we are not satisfied. We want the connection to be even more seamless for the bags to be through checked, for air site connectivity. So those are areas that we want to work with our low cost airline partners to see how to make it even more convenient for passengers.

For within Europe I think there are still a lot of key airports that we are not linked to, like Oslo, Brussels, Vienna. So these will be the top of my list within Europe. Looking further abroad, wider we don't have a direct link to Canada. So with new aircraft types coming along, I think there are more options for direct flight. So we are definitely gunning for direct flights for Vancouver and for Toronto in the near term.

Yeah we're very excited about this. So they will be progressively launched, starting from this month and over the next few months, flights to New York, to Los Angeles. So I think with these new flights, then we can attract more transfer traffic from South East Asia to the US. So someone from Jakarta it's easier now for him to take Jakarta - Singapore, then Singapore to the US. So we are very excited with this development.

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