Terminal 5 will double Changi Airport’s capacity: PM Lee

SINGAPORE — Planning is underway for a new Terminal 5, which would double Changi Airport’s current capacity by the mid-2020s.

Current expansion plans for the airport, code-named “Project Jewel”, will also see more shops, restaurants and an indoor garden built at an expansion building of Terminal 1, which is situated on the site of the carpark outside the terminal.

Prime Minister Lee Hsien Loong today (Aug 18) announced these plans to maintain Singapore’s position as an international hub and create more opportunities for Singaporeans.

“This is how we can stay the hub in Southeast Asia and create many more opportunities for Singapore,” said Mr Lee.

In his National Day Rally speech, Mr Lee noted that Changi Airport is an icon of Singapore to travellers and a welcome landmark telling us that we have arrived home.

But more than an emotional symbol, the airport is “how the world comes to Singapore and Singaporeans connect to the world”, and “why we thrive as an international hub for business, for trade, for tourism”, Mr Lee said.

Airport and related services provide some 163,000 jobs and account for 6 per cent of GDP, he noted.

But Changi Airport, which handled 51 million passengers last year, is approaching its limits with growing passenger traffic.

Meanwhile, both KLIA and Bangkok’s Suvarnabhumi airport – which are geographically better placed than Singapore to be the air hub in Southeast Asia – have plans to serve 100 million passengers a year, noted Mr Lee.

As part of the government’s plans for Singapore to stay as a vibrant hub city in Southeast Asia, Changi Airport will keep upgrading Terminals 1, 2 and 3, even as Terminal 4 is being built, Mr Lee added.