Airport News

Singapore Changi Airport today (5 November) broke ground for the construction of its new Terminal 4 (T4), which is expected to be completed by 2017.
T4, which will be built on the site of Changi’s former Budget Terminal (BT), will be a two-storey, 25m-high building with a gross floor area of 195,000m². The T4 building will be about seven times larger than the BT, with 17 contact stands for narrow-body aircraft and four for wide-body aircraft, all equipped with aerobridges.

Lee Seow Hiang, chief executive officer of Changi Airport Group, said, “Terminal 4 is set to challenge and redefine the way we travel. We have conceptualised and designed the terminal for passengers who view the time spent at the airport as very much part of their travel and holiday.

“Despite its relatively small size, our vision is for T4 to be an iconic terminal, setting new benchmarks – for passenger experience, operational efficiency and manpower productivity for our airport partners.”

A consortium led by SAA Architects designed T4, its members include UK architecture firm Benoy. The new terminal will include greenery and natural lighting as well as local culture and heritage-theme features in the transit area, such as retail stores with facades of old Peranakan shop houses.

“With T4, we are rethinking travel, exploring how key operational functions can be designed differently to optimise process flow, interior space, as well as manpower resources,” Seow Hiang added. “We are also challenging ourselves to deliver an even higher level of the Changi experience, by creating a boutique ambience and reflecting thoughtfulness for our passengers through the details in our design. In the aspects of architecture, layout and technology, we have future-proofed the terminal so that it can adjust to changing requirements of the industry.”

The terminal’s main showpiece will be a 300m-long Central Galleria that separates the public zone from the restricted zone. T4 will also provide clear visibility from the Check-in Hall of the offerings in the Transit Lounge, as part of a visual-transparent concept.

T4 will feature more than 15,000m² of space dedicated to shopping and dining, several times more than what was previously available at the BT, and will offer a new walk-through retail concept.

Immigration and pre-board security screening areas will be centralised at the south end of the terminal to create a clear single directional path for passengers towards their boarding gates. Self-service and automated options will be offered at T4’s check-in, bag drop, immigration clearance and departure-gate boarding. Alongside self-service kiosks, check-in service agents will also be on stand-by to assist passengers.

T4 will also have its own 68m-tall Ramp Control Tower to co-ordinate aircraft movements alongside the airport’s main Air Traffic Control Tower.

To support the terminal’s operations, another 17 narrow-body and nine wide-body aircraft stands are being built at a land plot south of Terminal 3.

A bridge will be constructed to enable vehicles to move from T4 to these aircraft stands. T4 will also house a departure bus lounge and a free   airside shuttle service between T4 and Terminal 2 to cater to passengers with onward connections on non-T4 airlines.

With the ability to handle 16 million passenger movements a year, T4’s completion in 2017 will bring Changi Airport’s total annual passenger capacity to 82 million.