Singapore Changi Airport , or simply Changi Airport, is the primary civilian airport in the Republic of Singapore, and one of the largest transportation hubs in Southeast Asia. It is located approximately northeast from the commercial centre in Changi, on a site.
Background
Singapore's International Airport at Paya Lebar, Singapore's third main civilian airport after Seletar Airport (main airport from 1930 to 1937) and Kallang Airport (1937–55) opened in 1955 with a single runway and a small passenger terminal. With the growth in global aviation transport, the airport was facing congestion problems. Its inability to cope with the rising traffic became critical by the 1970s; annual passenger numbers rose dramatically from 300,000 in 1955 to 1.7 million in 1970 and to 4 million in 1975.
The government had two options: expand the existing airport at Paya Lebar or build a new airport at another location. After extensive study, a decision was made in 1972 to keep the airport at Paya Lebar, as recommended by a British aviation consultant. Plans were made for the building of a second runway and an extensive redevelopment and expansion to the passenger terminal building. A year later, however, the plans were reviewed again as the pressure to expand the airport eased because of the 1973 oil crisis.
Concerned that the existing airport was located in an area with potential for urban growth, which would physically hem it in on all sides, the government subsequently decided in 1975 to build a new airport at the eastern tip of the main island at Changi, at the existing site of Changi Air Base, where the new airport would be easily expandable through land reclamation. However, as there was an increase in traffic, the airport still had to be expanded at that time. In addition, aeroplanes could fly over the sea, avoiding noise pollution issues within residential areas like those at Paya Lebar and helping to avoid disastrous consequences on the ground in the event of an air mishap. The airport in Paya Lebar was subsequently converted for military use as Paya Lebar Air Base.
Construction
The original master plan for Changi Airport, designed by Netherlands Airport Consultants (NACO) in 1976, involved constructing a dual-terminal and dual-runway configuration over two phases with provisions for another two passenger terminals in the future. Phase 1 included the construction for the first passenger terminal, the first runway (basically reusing and upgrading the main runway of Changi Air Base), 45 aircraft parking bays, support facilities and structures, including a large maintenance hangar, the first fire station, workshops and administrative offices, an airfreight complex, two cargo agents buildings, in-flight catering kitchens and an control tower. Construction for the second phase would commence immediately after the completion of Phase 1 and include the second runway, 23 new aircraft parking bays in addition to the existing 45 bays, a second fire station and a third cargo agent building.
Land reclamation works involving the use of over of landfill and seafill began in Changi in June 1975, even as the airport at Paya Lebar was still in the midst of expansion works. About of swamp land was cleared and filled with of earth from the nearby hills, while another of sand were used to fill up the seabed. Canals were built to drain water from three existing rivers, namely Sungei Tanah Merah Besar, Sungei Ayer Gemuroh and Sungei Mata Ikan. In total, were reclaimed, raising the total site area to 1,300 hectares. Of this, landfill accounted for while seafill represented .
The very first commercial aviation at stroke of midnight on 12 May 1981 with the very first commercial plane, Singapore Airlines SQ140 touching down at 00:00:00 Singapore Time/17:00:00 London Time with 140 passengers from London.
The first phase costing about S$1.3 billion commenced commercial operation on 1 July 1981 with the first flight, Singapore Airlines SQ101 touching down at 0700 hours (Coordinated Universal Time) with 140 passengers from Kuala Lumpur. Officially opened with much fanfare five months later on 29 December 1981, the airport ended its first year operations with 12.1 million passengers, close to 200,000 tonnes of air freight handled and 63,100 aircraft movements. 1981 was the year that DFS started its duty free concession, something it held until it gave it up in June 2020. It would become the biggest and oldest tenant at Changi airport. Sections of phase 2 opened progressively in the next few years, with Terminal 2 opening for passenger traffic nine years later on in 1990 way ahead of traffic demand.