BY: Karamjit Kaur, Aviation Correspondent

THE plan was for Changi Airport's Budget Terminal to be a no-frills one.

But new facilities and services have been added since its March 2006 opening; and in September, expansion works costing $10 million will start and take seven months to complete.

When ready, the terminal will be able to handle seven million passengers a year, up from 2.7 million now. There will also be more boarding gates, check-in counters, shops and dining options.

Referring to the other enhancements made to the terminal so far, a spokesman for the Civil Aviation Authority of Singapore (CAAS) told The Straits Times that they had been driven in part by customer feedback.

For example, the terminal now has a children's play area, baggage trolleys and a newsstand; passengers can also borrow wheelchairs and strollers for use in the terminal.

Another service: A temporary bag-check counter for those who do not wish to lug around their bags while waiting
for flights.

A pet peeve among arriving passengers has been the long walk from the aircraft to the arrival hall.

Full-time tutor Irene Ong, 29, said: "The distance is easily 150m. It's no joke when you have bags and sometimes tired kids to carry."

The CAAS has since lined the corridor with about 40 chairs for passengers to take a breather.

Passengers also griped about the limited shopping and dining options in the terminal.

Mr Ken Tse, the general manager of cosmetics and perfume chain Nuance Watson, which runs a store in the terminal, said that while customers expected "more variety and brands", there was a limit to how much stock its 3,000 sq ft store - half the size of its other airport outlets - could offer.

The fact remains, though, that the Budget Terminal was designed to serve a different function from Changi's main
terminals: It was meant to offer fewer frills in return for lower user charges. This is how its passenger departure tax came to be pegged at $7, half that levied at the main terminals.

However, there are no plans for an increase.

Industry observers point out that with 15 shops and eateries now, the Budget Terminal is not badly off when compared to Kuala Lumpur International Airport's low-cost terminal, which was built to handle 10 million passengers a year and has fewer than 10 shops.

On expansion plans for the Singapore facility coming so soon after its opening, the CAAS spokesman said that
when the decision to build the Budget Terminal was made in 2004, no one could accurately predict the success of budget air travel in the region.

Four years on, opportunities for low-cost carriers to expand have mushroomed.

Singapore's Tiger Airways, for example, which now flies to 15 destinations, will be able to grow when the terminal is expanded, its spokesman said.

The only other airline now using the terminal is the Philippines' Cebu Pacific Air. The two airlines together handled 1.77 million passengers last year.

The Budget Terminal now hosts more than 280 flights a week, connecting passengers to about 20 cities.

More shops, check-in counters

AFTER the expansion, the terminal will have:

• Increased handling capacity - from 2.7 million passengers a year to 7 million
  
  
• 10 departure gates, up from seven
  
  
• 25 check-in counters, up from 18
  
  
• Two new cafes and two new retail kiosks, to add to the current 13 shops, one food court and one restaurant
  
  
• An extended canopy for kerbside arrival and departures, as well as for the taxi stand

Improvements made in the last 2 1/2 years

• Provision of baggage trolleys
  
  
• A children's play area
  
  
• A newsstand
  
  
• Chairs along the arrival corridor
  
  
• Complimentary use of wheelchairs and strollers within the terminal

This article was first published in The Straits Times on July 5, 2008.