Changi Airport handled 1.74 mn tonnes of cargo in 2023; a 6% YoY dip

Changi Airport’s airfreight throughput stood at 1.74 million tonnes for 2023, a year-on-year decline of 6 percent against a volatile global economic environment.

“Cargo flows dipped slightly compared to 2022 against the backdrop of global economic uncertainty and inflationary pressures. Changi’s top five air cargo markets for the year were China, Australia, Hong Kong, the United States of America and India,” reads the release.

Changi Airport welcomed 3 new freighter services in December 2023 from MSC Air Cargo (Operated by Atlas Air), Sichuan Airlines and Myanmar National Airlines.

Meanwhile, Singapore Changi Airport handled 58.9 million passenger movements in 2023, representing 86% of the traffic recorded in 2019. Aircraft movements, which include landings and take-offs, totalled 328,000, as compared to 382,000 in 2019.

Lim Ching Kiat, Changi Airport Group’s executive vice president for air hub and cargo development said, “2023 was an invigorating year, as we witnessed the resounding resumption of travel across the world, as well as the full reopening of Changi Airport’s Terminal 2. The upswing in travel was fuelled by strong outbound travel demand, as well as growing inbound travel. The growth in passenger traffic was especially strong in Asia, with an acceleration seen in the last quarter. Changi Airport also resumed connections to more than 10 cities this year, including Addis Ababa, Changsha, Ningbo, Kaohsiung, and Okinawa. We have restored almost 90% of our pre-Covid city links to date, with Changi Airport now the 5th busiest airport in the world by seat capacity.

“We step into 2024 hopeful of making a full recovery back to Changi Airport's pre-Covid connectivity and traffic levels. As more travellers around the world rekindle their wanderlust, we will continue to work with our airline partners to bring exciting destinations and new travel experiences to travellers.”

In 2023, Changi Airport welcomed three new passenger airlines into the Changi family – Air Macau, Firefly and TransNusa – and added two new passenger city links to its network – Bhubaneswar (India) and Sanya (China). Changi Airport also established its first link to Beijing Daxing Airport via China Eastern Airlines. Through a three-year partnership between Singapore Tourism Board, TUI Airways and Marella Cruises, Changi Airport will welcome fly-cruise passengers from the United Kingdom to Singapore between December to April each season, for three years till 2026. TUI Airways operates 3x weekly services from London-Gatwick, Manchester and Birmingham.

During the year, Air Canada announced its return to Changi Airport after more than 30 years, and will commence its 4x weekly non-stop Vancouver-Singapore service in April 2024. Singapore Airlines will also launch new passenger services to Brussels and London Gatwick, commencing in April and June 2024 respectively.

As at January 2024, 93 airlines operate over 6,700 weekly scheduled flights at Changi Airport, connecting Singapore to 154 cities in 49 countries and territories worldwide.