"Service will set Changi's T3 apart"

Now that Changi's Terminal 3 has set an opening date - 9 January, 2008 - all eyes are on what the spanking new facility will offer that will set it apart from its competitors in the region.

That it will be bigger and better than Terminal 1 or 2 is a given. At 380,000sqm, it is bigger than Terminal 2's 358,000sqm and Terminal 1's 280,000sqm.

It will have 100 shops and more than 30 food & beverage outlets, as well as a 350-room airport hotel with a swimming pool, restaurants, conference rooms and a spa. In comparison, T1 and T2 have 160 shops and 80 food outlets in total.

Built to handle 22 million passengers annually, its addition will mean that Changi will be capable of looking after 70 million passengers a year. Hong Kong's Chek Lap Kok handles 45 million passengers a year while the new Dubai International Airport will also be looking at 70 million passengers by next year.

But what must Terminal 3 have to set it apart from its competitors?

Strong focus on customer touch-points

Said Mr Stephen Forshaw, Vice President of Public Affairs of Singapore Airlines, which will be its anchor tenant: "I think Changi will focus on what the airport offers which will keep it apart from its competitors. No single terminal should be offering anything substantially different from others if the airport is to operate effectively as a whole.

"Of course, design, layout and use of materials can and will be different, but what sets Changi apart from its competitors now is not design: It's service, efficiency and a strong focus on customer touch-points.

"From a user's point of view, costs need to be kept competitive: not just with short term offers, but in the long term, so that operations are sustainable and the customer isn't disadvantaged by having to pay more here against what they'd pay to use other neighbouring airports."

From now till opening, rehearsals are taking place to ensure that when it receives its first passenger, it will do so with the efficiency and smoothness that Singapore prides itself on.

Putting Changi on best competitive footing

Over the next few months, airlines, airport agencies, ground handlers and shop tenants will begin their move into the premises. Flight trials will start this month (July) and an open house is slated later in the year to give the public a chance to get to know the new terminal.

In announcing the opening date after a tour of the terminal, Singapore's Transport Minister Raymond Lim, said, "When Terminal 3 opens its doors to the world on 9 January 2008, it will bring us closer to our vision of making Changi a regional air hub."

Mr Peter Harbison, Managing Director of the Sydney-based Centre for Asia Pacific Aviation, observed that the new terminal "does set Singapore up perhaps better than any other Asian airport in terms of providing airline accessibility".

Mr Forshaw agreed that T3 would prepare Singapore to meet future competition from other air hubs. "Terminal 3 builds capacity at Changi and provides the airport with the room to grow into future decades.

"Customers using Changi have a very high expectation of its efficiency and effectiveness, whether they are transiting, entering or leaving Singapore. So T3 will provide the capability to grow throughput in line with Singapore's continued strong growth."

Asked which airport provides the stiffest competition in terms of route network and hub potential to Changi, Mr Forshaw said: "We don't look at any one airport providing stiff competition; there are many which provide competition in different markets.

"There is a realisation now that hub potential and customer support is influenced by airports. In recent years, China has invested a lot in infrastructure; others in the region have done so too. The standard of airports in the Asia-Pacific region is getting better all the time, and this sets Changi a major challenge to keep ahead; not just of one airport, but of many."