SINGAPORE : Changi Airport's new terminal for low-cost carriers will start operations on March 26.
Passengers using it can expect to pay a lower airport tax, although, for now, only Tiger Airways will be using the no-frills building.
Singapore plans to tap into the fast-growing budget carrier market, with almost 1 in 10 flights at Changi now being a budget carrier flight.
Tiger Airways will be getting a new home soon, and the no-frills building will have no travellators, escalators nor aerobridges.
But with lowered costs, passengers will also pay less -- S$13 in airport tax, compared to the current S$21 at existing terminals.
The Civil Aviation Authority of Singapore says this is the lowest in the region for international flights.
However, it is not just passengers who will pay less.
Rentals of shop and office spaces will be up to 50 percent lower than existing charges.
Airlines, however, will have to pay the same landing and parking fees since they use the same runways and taxiways.
The building will be ready by January, and airport systems tests and office renovations by airport agencies will take place before the doors are opened to the public.
There will be some facilities available, though -- money changers, duty-free shopping and eating places, plus a free shuttle bus service to the other terminals.
The 25,000 square metre terminal, which is about the size of three football fields or about one-tenth the size of Terminal 1, will initially be able to handle about 2.7 million passengers a year.
This capacity can be expanded should more carriers decide to use the terminal. - CNA /ct