Changi Airport considers Jaipur-Lucknow as passenger generating destination | India News – Business Standard

For China, which is still in the recovery phase, Lim said CAG wants to add more direct connections, especially to provincial capitals such as Guiyang in Guizhou province and Harbin in Heilongjiang province | File image

Singapore’s Changi Airport Group (CAG) is looking at new destinations such as Jaipur and Lucknow to generate passenger traffic from India, one of the bright spots for the city-state’s airport, a media report said.

Lim Ching Kiat, executive vice-president for air hub and cargo development at CAG, said Changi Airport Group will work with airlines to add more capacity on high-demand routes by increasing frequencies or allowing airlines to use larger aircraft, The Straits reported Times. .

We are looking at new destinations such as Jaipur and Lucknow. We think there is a demand for that, Lim said in an interview with the Straits Times.

Lim has described India as another bright spot as passenger traffic and connectivity have already surpassed pre-pandemic levels.

Lim said CAG will work with airlines to add more capacity on high-demand routes, either by increasing frequencies or allowing airlines to use larger aircraft.

South Korea, for example, continues to attract healthy demand for inbound and outbound travel.

For China, which is still in the recovery phase, Lim said CAG wants to add more direct connections, especially to provincial capitals such as Guiyang in Guizhou province and Harbin in Heilongjiang province.

The ASEAN, Indian and South Korean markets have punched above their weight, said Subhas Menon, director general of the Association of Asia-Pacific Airlines, which counts SIA and Hong Kong’s Cathay Pacific among its 15 members.

According to the Singapore Daily report, Menon is hopeful that they will be able to take over 25 to 50 percent of the space left by China for the Asia-Pacific region.

The Indira Gandhi International Airport has recovered 99 percent as it handled 18.5 million passengers in 2023, compared to 18.7 million passengers flying through Delhi airport in 2019, a pre-pandemic level.

Singapore’s Changi Airport has recovered by 86 per cent as it handled 58.9 million passengers in 2023, compared to 68.3 million passengers in 2019, according to a table published by The Straits Times based on information sourced and accredited by Sobie Aviation, a Singapore-based independent analysis and consultancy firm specializing in the aviation, airport and aerospace sectors.

By comparison, traffic recovery at other leading Asian airports ranged from a low of 55 percent for Hong Kong International Airport to 92 percent for Haneda Airport in Japan, according to the table.

(Only the headline and image of this report may have been reworked by Business Standard staff; the rest of the content is automatically generated from a syndicated feed.)

First print: February 11, 2024 | 12:06 pm IST