Cathay Pacific flight CX659 from Hong Kong was the first flight to arrive at the new building at 0540 hours, while the return trip departed an hour and a half later. The Hong Kong based airline, and Korean Air, are the first two of nine carriers to use the brand new terminal.

By 1700hrs, T4 had served 11 flights and about 2,400 passengers. More than 80% of the travellers used at least one of the new Fast and Seamless Travel self-service options for check-in, bag-drop, immigration and boarding. When the first full day of operations is completed, it is expected the facility will have handled 19 arrivals and departures, and 4,200 passengers.

Tan Lye Teck, Changi Airport Group Executive Vice President for Airport Management said: “After five years in the making, we are very happy to commence operations at T4. The terminal will increase Changi Airports capacity by another 16m passenger movements per annum (mppa), bringing the total to 82mppa. T4 is expected to handle about 8m passengers in its first year of operation. More importantly, we are now able to deliver an even better travel experience to Changi’s passengers.

“We are thankful that everything has been smooth so far today. Our operations teams will continue to keep a close eye on the various systems to ensure that passengers enjoy a seamless travel experience at T4. We look forward to welcoming the other airlines, which will start their operations progressively on 2 and 7 November.”

Photo: Passengers on the first flight, CX659 from Hong Kong, arrive at Changi T4. (Changi Airport Group)