Passenger traffic rise between Lanka-Singapore

by Shirajiv Sirimane in Singapore

Passenger traffic between Sri Lanka and Singapore are on the rise which saw over 260,500 passenger movements between the two countries. In 2004, Changi Airport handled more than 326,600 passenger movements between Colombo and Singapore.

This was an increase of 22.09% over 2003.

In the first quarter of 2005, there were some 113,600 passenger movements between Colombo and Singapore, up by 15.6% from the 99,600 passenger movements handled by Airport during January to April 2004. "We also noted that SriLankan Airlines has been gradually increasing its operations between Colombo and Singapore, from 7 weekly passenger services in 2002 to the current 12 weekly services," an official Singapore Civil Aviation Authority (CAAS) Public Relation Department said.

SriLankan Airlines operates the highest, 12 services per week, Singapore Airlines - (7 services per week) Emirates (4 services per week) and Cathay Pacific - (3 services per week) are the other airlines operating directly between the two countries. Singapore Airlines Cargo operates freighter flights.

Sri Lanka's budget airline Holiday Air also announce that hey would be operating flights to Singapore from next September and has promised offer the cheapest fair. Between February 2004 and December 2004, aircraft movements by low-cost carriers operating at Airport accounted for about 7 per cent of total aircraft movements at Changi.

CAAS recently started construction of a dedicated terminal at Airport for budget airlines. The 25,000 square metre (sqm) terminal built at a cost of SGD$27.7 million (USD$15.1 million) is scheduled for completion in early 2006 and will be able to handle about 2.7 million passengers a year.

Changi Airport is linked to more than 175 cities in 54 countries by 79 airlines that operate more than 3,900 weekly flights. The International Air Transport Association (IATA) award went to Singapore Changi Airport.

On the whole, Airport handled a record volume of passenger movements - a total of 30.35 million for 2004. Compared to 2003's, which stood at 24.67 million, there was an increase of 23.1%. In the first five months of 2005, Airport registered a total of 12.64 million passengers, or 7.1% higher than last year.

A new Terminal 3 is also being built at Changi Airport at a cost of S$1.75 billion. It will add a capacity of 20 million passengers a year.