Q: How has SARS affected Changi Airport's business and its future expansion plans?
A: SARS has had a serious impact on Changi Airport's business. Our passenger traffic decreased by 50% in April 2003 when compared with April 2002. Nonetheless, we believe that traffic will return again now that Singapore has been removed from the World Health Organisation's SARS-affected-areas list and the SARS situation in other countries is stabilised.
The Terminal 3 development is currently in progress. We are monitoring the situation, to see if there is a need for a slight delay.
Q: Will SARS have a long-term impact on the region's airline industry or will it be temporary; will the traditionally strong traffic growth rates return?
A: If the SARS situation in the region can be contained in the next few months, the impact should not be a permanent one. And we expect a gradual return of the traditionally strong traffic growth rates, as Asia-Pacific is still the fastest growing region in the world.
Q: Is a recovery expectedanytime soon?
A: Traffic appears to be bottoming out. Barring other unforeseen upheavals, we could expect a gradual recovery over the next 12 months.
Q: After offering further landing fee rebates, how will CAAS be working with airlines to promote a return to travel?
A: To promote traffic recovery to and through Singapore, CAAS has allocated a sum of S$10 million ($5.8 million) for an Airlines Traffic Development Scheme, which offers financial incentives to airlines which can bring in more passengers to Singapore for the next four months.
Airlines will also benefit from the previously announced Air Hub Development Fund which CAAS will commit over a three-year period from 2003 to 2005. In addition, CAAS has introduced a S$114 million SARS relief package [until the end of 2003] to help airlines and the airport businesses who have been affected by the SARS outbreak.
Q: What has CAAS done to prevent the spread of SARS at Changi airport?
A: We have introduced temperature screening for all arriving and all departing passengers using thermal scanners. These thermal scanners allow temperature checks to be done in a contactless manner, with no delays or extra time needed to clear the various airport processes. Hence the whole process is passenger friendly, and completely hassle-free.
To create a SARS-safe environment in the airport, all airport workers entering the departure/transit lounge are also required to have their temperatures checked.
These measures are meant to safeguard the health of travellers, and to give them peace of mind when they use Changi Airport.
Q: What lessons should be learned from the current crisis?
A: The aviation industry will face shocks from time to time. This latest crisis is not the first, nor the last. We should never stretch ourselves too thin at any time, and should build up adequate reserves during good times so that we could survive the lean times. This is exactly what CAAS and Changi Airport have been doing all these years, and we are therefore able to offer financial assistance to our business partners during this SARS crisis even when our revenues have been severely hit.
The need to be innovative and be prepared to try new solutions to new problems, including harnessing the strength of technology, is key. That's how the thermal scanners came about at Changi Airport. We needed to check the temperatures of travellers, while bearing in mind the need to minimise inconvenience. The thermal scanners solved the problem they were contactless and fast, with no delays or extra time needed in the various airport processes.
Another lesson is the importance of co-operation among the various stakeholders: airport authorities, airlines, the travel industry, tourism authorities. No one party alone can tackle the problems posed by the SARS outbreak. To ride the storm, we all have to get our acts together.
BOXTEXT: "...No one party alone can tackle the problems posed by the SARS outbreak. To ride the storm, we all have to get our acts together..."
Source: Flight Daily News
