Changi Airport Group honours airline partners for contributing to growth of Singapore air hub

SINGAPORE, 27 April 2016 – Changi Airport Group (CAG) recognised its top airline partners this evening at the Changi Airline Awards 2017, where a total of 25 awards were presented to airlines whose efforts over the past year contributed significantly to the growth and development of the Singapore air hub. The annual awards event, into its 12th year, was graced by Mr Ng Chee Meng, Minister for Education (Schools) & Second Minister for Transport, at The St. Regis Singapore.

Based on the airlines’ traffic at Changi Airport in 2016, awards were presented in six categories – Top Airlines & Airline Groups by Passenger Carriage and Cargo Carriage, Top Airlines by Absolute Passenger Growth and Absolute Cargo Growth, Best Airline Marketing, and the Partner of the Year. A list of all the award winners can be found in Annex A.

Partner of the Year

The Partner of the Year award was presented to DHL Express, in recognition of theirstrong partnership with CAG to grow and strengthen Changi Airport's air cargo hub status. DHL Express launched their fully-automated South Asia Hub at Changi Airfreight Centre in October 2016, which tripledtheir cargo handling capacity to 628 tonnes during the peak processing window, and increased their parcel-sorting speed bysix-fold to 24,000 shipments and documents per hour.

DHL Express also added new flights through its joint venture (JV) airlines and other airline partners. Last year, with the expansion of the DHL Express operations, Changi Airport welcomed Neptune Air and the return of K-Mile. As of April 2017, the company’s JV and partner freighter flights at Changi Airport totalled over 30 weekly services or about 12% of Changi's total weekly freighter services.

Sean Wall, Executive Vice President, Network Operations and Aviation, DHL Express Asia Pacific said, “The successful launch of our South Asia Hub last year was made possible thanks to the close collaboration we had with Changi Airport Group as well as the Singapore Government. As the heart of our DHL network in South and Southeast Asia, the South Asia Hub in Singapore has allowed us to add more network flights in and out of the country to meet our customers’ needs, and to further capitalize on the country’s prime position for regional and global trade. Singapore remains a strategic node in our global network and we are honored to be named Partner of the Year by the Changi Airport Group.”

Top carriers at Changi

For passenger carriers, the top five airlines and airline groups operating at Changi Airport in 2016 were Singapore Airlines Group, Jetstar Group, AirAsia Group, Cathay Pacific Airways and Lion Group. On the cargo front, Singapore Airlines Group continued to head the list with the highest cargo volume, followed by Cathay Pacific Airways, FedEx Express, China Airlines and EVA Air.

Strong partnerships for sustainable growth

Speaking at the awards event, Mr Lee Seow Hiang, CEO of CAG said, “As we celebrate our successes, we will continue to transform Changi Airport, in preparation for challenges in the future. We will do so by catering supply for future growth, as well as working with our partners to grow sustainable demand for aviation services.

Mr Lee mentioned the Airport Collaborative Decision Making (ACDM) initiative as an example of Changi Airport adding capacity to the existing airport eco-system. He said, “ACDM was only possible with the strong support and commitment of all our airline, ground handling and airport partners. As a result, there has been a reduction of 90 seconds in the average taxiing time for departing flights during peak hours, translating into fuel savings for airlines.”

Mr Lee added, “In the longer term, CAG believes in pursuing sustainable growth with our partners. We are cultivating new passenger segments for our airline partners to benefit from a steady pipeline of traffic into the future. These include Meetings, Incentives, Conventions and Exhibitions (MICE), fly-cruise out of Singapore and low-cost long-haul travel such as forthcoming services by Scoot and Norwegian to Athens and London respectively.”

2016 was a positive year for the aviation industry, with lower oil prices offering some respite amidst a highly competitive environment. Changi Airport saw a record-breaking 58.7 million passengers passing through its gates, a growth of 5.9% year-on-year. Changi also welcomed four new airline partners and eight new city links during the year. The airport is on track to receive 60 million passengers in 2017.