Changi Airport's record 35 million passengers and 1.91 million tonnes of cargo in 2006 were achieved through strong working relationships between the Civil Aviation Authority of Singapore (CAAS) and its airline partners.

To celebrate these partnerships, CAAS held the second "Changi Airline Awards" today to recognise the airlines' contributions to Changi's growth and to honour top performing partners.

In a ceremony graced by guest-of-honour Mr Raymond Lim, Minister for Transport and Second Minister for Foreign Affairs, 21 airlines received the Changi Airline Award under four categories.

Airlines were honoured under the "Top 10 Airlines by Passenger Carriage", "Top 10 Airlines by Cargo Carriage", "Top 5 Airlines by Growth in Passenger Carriage", and "Top 5 Airlines by Growth in Cargo Carriage" categories.

In his address, Minister Lim said that in 2006, Changi Airport outperformed the average 5.9 per cent traffic growth recorded by the International Air Transport Association (IATA), recording a strong 8 per cent growth.

"In the first quarter of this year, Changi Airport handled an encouraging 8.7 million passenger movements, an increase of 6 per cent over the same period last year," he said.

Minister Lim further touched on the numerous initiatives that CAAS had undertaken to ensure that Changi Airport continues to remain competitive.

He said: "Today, many airlines are enjoying incentives for their traffic growth at Changi Airport under the $300-million Air Hub Development Fund 2. CAAS regularly reviews these incentives to ensure that they remain effective in strengthening Changi Airport's attractiveness as a premier hub in the region.

"I am pleased to announce that some of these incentives have recently been enhanced. For example, airlines will enjoy more attractive incentives if they mount new scheduled services to unserved points or under-served points from Changi."

CAAS also presented a Special Appreciation Award to the Board of Airline Representatives (BAR) and the Airline Operators Committee (AOC). The former is an industry association representing the commercial interests of airlines operating to and from Singapore, while the later represents airlines in operational matters at Changi Airport.

As at April 1 2007, Changi Airport serves 83 scheduled airlines which operate about 4,200 weekly scheduled flights to over 185 cities in 59 countries.

'Top 10 Airlines by Passenger Carriage'
Cathay Pacific Airways, Emirates, Garuda Indonesia, Jetstar Asia Airways, Malaysia Airlines, Qantas Airways, SilkAir, Singapore Airlines, Thai Airways and Tiger Airways (in alphabetical order).

'Top 10 Airlines by Cargo Carriage'
Cathay Pacific Airways, China Airlines, Emirates, EVA Airways, Federal Express, Japan Airlines, Korean Air, Qantas Airways, Singapore Airlines Cargo and Thai Airways.

'Top 5 Airlines by Growth in Passenger Carriage'
Air Seychelles, Jetstar Asia Airways, Qatar Airways, Tiger Airways and Transaero Airlines

'Top 5 Airlines by Growth in Cargo Carriage'
Air Niugini, Asiana Airlines, Qatar Airways, SilkAir and SriLankan Airlines.