An opening date has been set for Changi Airport’s Terminal 4 — come Oct 31, the new high tech terminal will officially make its debut to the public. According to Transport Minister Khaw Boon Wan’s Facebook post today (Sept 6), more than 100 trials, involving 2,500 airport staff and 1,500 volunteers, have been conducted at T4 since its construction was completed in December last year.
The high tech terminal — which features for the first time a facial recognition system, as well as centralized security screening and start-to-end self-service processes — will see Cathay Pacific and Korean Air shift over before the rest, reported The Straits Times. Cathay Pacific will operate the terminal’s first arrival and departure flights to and from Hong Kong.
Both airlines are part of the nine carriers — the AirAsia Group (with four airlines), Cebu Pacific, Spring Airlines and Vietnam Airlines — that will commence operations from T4. The rest will move over between Nov 1 and Nov 7.
Changi Airport Group stated in a press release that while preparations for flight operations began last October, the final stretch will see a “small number” of checks and reviews conducted at the terminal. Trials with selected commercial flights at T4 were also carried out in recent weeks, reported Channel NewsAsia. The airport was notified of areas of improvement, and feedback from trial participants was used to tweak systems and processes.
With a capacity of about 16 million passengers, the S$985 million (US$727 million) terminal aims to increase the airport’s annual capacity to 82 million passengers.
