Department of Information and Tourism, Taipei City Government

After arriving in Singapore on December 15, Mayor Ko Wen-je led the delegation from Taipei City Government on a visit to the Changi Airport Group. The delegation members toured the Jewel Changi Airport which opened in 2019. 

Currently, Changi Airport comprises four terminals. In 2019, the facility ranked seventh place in the world in terms of the volume of passenger traffic, serving roughly 86 million passengers that year. Unfortunately, due to the pandemic, the number dropped drastically to 11.8 million.  

With the abrupt decline in passenger volume, the management of Changi Airport decided to close down two of the airport’s terminals to reduce staffing cost while taking the opportunity to revamp and expand the facilities. The management expects to increase the number of passengers served from 23 million to 28 million with the reopening of the second airport terminal in the future. This will significantly boost the service capacity of the entire airport to 91 million passengers.

The visitors from Taipei also had a chance to tour the airport’s Forest Valley. As Singapore takes pride in being a garden city, Changi Airport Group created the facility within the airport to introduce international travelers to the numerous tropical plants in the building’s parameter. The garden also boasts the largest indoor waterfall in the world – the Rain Vortex. With five floors above ground and five floors below ground, the 40-meter-tall structure is the top tourist attraction at the airport.

The mayor also stopped by the Changi Experience Studio to learn about the airport’s history through digital presentations at the venue. He is very impressed with how Singapore weathered the COVID crisis by taking advantage of the low passenger flow to overhaul parts of the facilities and begin construction on the fifth terminal to make way for the future. The ability to treat crisis as opportunity is something that Taiwan can learn from.