Changi stays ahead of the pack
SINGAPORE – Singapore will tomorrow open the US$1.2 billion Terminal 3 at Changi, setting a new benchmark for airport terminals around the world.
Analysts say the new terminal will boost the appeal of Singapore’s Changi Airport – particularly compared with its key challenger in Bangkok, which has been plagued with problems since opening in 2006.
“It will push Singapore further ahead of its rivals,” said Shukor Yusof, of Standard and Poor’s Equity Research.
Terminal 3, which boasts a five-storey vertical garden with waterfalls, can handle 22 million passengers a year, bringing Changi’s total capacity to about 70 million, said airport operator the Civil Aviation Authority of Singapore (CAAS).
Terminal 3 will add 28 aerobridge gates to Changi, with up to eight designed to handle the super jumbo Airbus A380, currently operated exclusively by Singapore Airlines.
Those who have had a peep at the new terminal during public open days say it has the ambience of a five-star hotel.
“When Singapore builds something, they don’t do it for now, they do it for five, 10 years ahead,” Yusof said.
Terminal 3 also houses one of the largest and longest permanent public art projects in the world.A sandstone wall sculpture is located at the arrival hall.
Commissioned by CAAS and entitled Rhythms of Nature, the sculpture by English sculptor and designer Richard North-Lewis comprises more than 5,000 individually-cut stone blocks.
Of these, nearly 1,000 blocks are hand-carved with images depicting nature’s flora and fauna.The sculpture was built in Java with sandstone quarried locally and then transported piece by piece to Singapore and reassembled at Terminal 3.
Ian Jarrett
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