​Singapore’s air passenger traffic recuperates strongly

The main factor contributed to the growth was attributed by passenger traffic between Singapore and South Korea which eclipsed pre-pandemic levels by 36%.

According to Singapore’s Changi Airport Group (CAG) and the Civil Aviation Authority of Singapore, in October this year, 5.12 million travelers passed through the airport, compared to 5.65 million in October 2019.

About 28,700 commercial flights took off from or landed at Changi, amounting to 89.8 % of the flights in October 2019.

CAG said the South Korean market has seen the strongest recovery so far in 2023 among the airport’s top 10 markets.

CAG said passenger traffic between South Korea and Singapore had recovered to above 2019 levels since the beginning of 2023, outperforming pre- numbers by at least 25% each month.

It attributed this to the growth in traffic between Singapore and Korean cities of Seoul and Busan, as well as low-cost carrier Scoot’s launch of flights to and from Jeju island in June 2022.

Another factor behind the growing demand has been a corresponding increase in flight capacity by airlines. Scoot, Jeju Air, Singapore Airlines have increased the number of flights a week between Singapore and the RoK. CAG said there are now six airlines operating flights between the two countries, compared with five before the pandemic.

Other top markets in October of Changi Airport were Indonesia, the Philippines, and Vietnam.