January 22 2025  |  Airlines & Airports

Changi bounces back to pre-Covid passenger levels

By Wendy Morley


As of January 2025, 100 airlines operate more than 7,400 weekly scheduled flights at Changi Airport, connecting Singapore to 163 cities in 49 countries and territories worldwide

Singapore Changi Airport has achieved a near-complete recovery to pre-pandemic traffic levels, handling 67.7 million passenger movements in 2024 – 99.1% of 2019 numbers and a 14.8% increase over 2023. Aircraft movements grew 11.5% to 366,000, while airfreight throughput reached 1.99 million tonnes, up 14.6% from the previous year.

The fourth quarter marked a significant milestone with full traffic recovery compared to Q4 2019, processing 17.8 million passengers. December proved to be the busiest month since the pandemic, with traffic exceeding 6 million passengers for the first time since December 2019. The peak travel day was December 21, when 226,000 passengers moved through the terminals.

North Asia emerged as the fastest-growing region with a 40% increase over 2023. China reclaimed its position as Changi's largest source market, with passenger traffic nearly doubling 2023 levels and exceeding pre-Covid numbers by 6%. Hong Kong and Japan both recorded growth exceeding 20%.

The airport's top five routes were Kuala Lumpur, Bangkok, Jakarta, Denpasar and Hong Kong. Shanghai made a notable entry into Changi's top 10 cities list for the first time since 2011, showing 94% growth over the previous year.

"We witnessed a year of strong growth in passenger and cargo traffic as well as connectivity in 2024," says Changi Airport Group CEO Yam Kum Weng. "Changi added a bumper crop of 11 new city links, strengthening the air hub's network and opening up a world of new destinations to support business ties and for travellers to explore. We are deeply grateful for the close partnership with our airline partners and are pleased to welcome the new airlines to Changi. Their collaboration has been instrumental in driving this growth."

The airport welcomed eight new passenger airlines in 2024: Aero Dili, AirAsia Cambodia, Air Canada, Air Japan, Loong Air, Peach Aviation, Tianjin Airlines and West Air. New destinations included Broome, Brussels, Guiyang, Kertajati, Lhasa, Linyi, Malacca, Phu Quoc, Quanzhou, Vancouver and Wenzhou. Additional routes to London Gatwick and Subang Airport expanded options for London and Kuala Lumpur travelers.

Cargo operations also showed strong performance across all flows – exports, imports and transshipments – driven by improved cargo flows between Singapore and China, as well as the United States. The recovery of Singapore's electronics exports and re-exports, strong global demand for cross-border e-commerce shipments and a modal shift from ocean to air freight due to maritime disruptions all contributed to growth.

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