Singapore set to begin work on new pandemic-proof terminal at Changi Airport 

Singapore set to begin work on new pandemic-proof terminal at Changi Airport 

Singapore will start work on a fifth terminal at Changi Airport -- regularly voted among the world’s best -- with a revised design that allows it to adjust capacity during a pandemic, as the city-state works to cement its place as Asia’s primary aviation hub.

“In the longer term, air travel will keep growing because of the fast expanding middle-class in our region,” Prime Minister Lee Hsien Loong said in his National Day Rally address Sunday.

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“We redesigned T5 to be more resilient, in particular to operate more safely and flexibly during a pandemic, to scale operations up and down more easily, and to isolate passengers from different flights to limit cross-infection.”

The terminal, expected to be completed in the middle of next decade, may serve as a model for other global airports to prepare for events that are out of their control after the pandemic decimated the travel industry. Even before COVID-19, Changi had ambitious plans for a heavily automated terminal, minimizing touchpoints and letting robots do the bulk of the work. The virus served as a catalyst to fine-tune those plans.

Singapore also has an opportunity to get ahead