By Karamjit Kaur, Aviation Correspondent

CHANGI Airport is holding its own despite the global downturn in travel, with passenger traffic busting the 31 million mark in the first 10 months of the year - a 3.7 per cent increase over the same period last year.

The next few months should be similarly encouraging, going by the number of flights in the early days of November and projections for December and beyond based on advance schedules filed by airlines.

In the first week of this month, there were 4,466 flights operating in and out of Changi - up 3.8 per cent from the same period last year.

Next month, the number of weekly flights is expected to exceed 4,700, said the Civil Aviation Authority of Singapore yesterday.

The projected increase - almost 9 per cent more compared to December last year - is due primarily to the opening of the Singapore-Malaysia market.

From next month, Singapore's low-cost carriers Tiger Airways and Jetstar Asia, as well as Malaysia's AirAsia, will operate more services between Singapore and Kuala Lumpur.

The governments on both sides have also given the green light for more low-cost flights between Singapore and the East Malaysian states of Sabah and Sarawak.

The annual peak travel season, which typically starts with the school holidays and ends after Chinese New Year, is expected to keep the airport busy.

Beyond that, however, the outlook is cloudy for Changi.

Though the airport is doing better than many others worldwide, Changi authorities say they are realistic and cannot expect it to be shielded much longer from the battering being received by the air travel industry.

Airlines around the world have reported slowing business in the last few months.

Singapore Airlines, one of the world's most profitable carriers and Changi's main tenant, has not been spared either.

The national carrier's profits for the first six months of its financial year, from April to September, fell 26.8 per cent to $682.4 million.

Civil Aviation Authority of Singapore director-general and chief executive officer Lim Kim Choon said yesterday that while the higher number of flights 'demonstrates Changi Airport's continued relevance as a major global aviation hub', next year will be 'very challenging'.

'The full impact of the global economic downturn is expected to be felt more acutely then,' he said in a press statement.

Already, there are signs that things are taking a turn for the worse.

In September, for instance, Changi experienced its first drop in traffic volumes in more than four years. A total of 2.89 million passengers went through the airport that month, a 0.4 per cent year-on-year decline.

The last time there was a dip was in February 2004.

karam@sph.com.sg

This article was first published in The Straits Times on Nov 14, 2008.

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