CHANGI AIRPORT HANDLES 3.36 MLN PASSENGERS IN NOVEMBER

From Zakaria Abdul Wahab

SINGAPORE, Dec 23 (Bernama) – Singapore's Changi Airport handled 3.36 million passengers last month, an increase of 9.2 per cent, compared with November 2008.

" This is the highest monthly, year-on-year, growth in passenger traffic
registered this year," Changi Airport Group (CAG) said Wednesday.

Saying growth was strongest on Southeast Asia routes, the airport operator
said it was also the fourth consecutive month of passenger traffic growth
recorded since August 2009.

But for the last 11 months, passenger traffic was 2.4 per cent lower at 33.4
million compared with the same period last year, CAG said in a statement.

For November, aircraft movements increased 7.6 per cent to 20,661 with some
airlines reinstating and increasing frequencies.

Last month, Singapore Airlines increased capacity on routes to Australia and
New Zealand, Europe and Japan.

CAG said low cost carriers were the drivers of growth in traffic and
flights, accounting for about one of every five passengers and one of every four
flights.

Changi Airport was served by 86 scheduled airlines as of last month,
operating to 201 cities in 60 countries and territories.

The airport operator also said demand for cargo services rebounded with
airfreight movements improving 4.6 per cent to 153,000 tonnes in November.

Airfreight for the January-November 2009 period totalled 1.48 million
tonnes.

–-BERNAMA