The Hindu Business Line : Hangout at Changi

"When my sister had a baby who felt very restricted in her flat, we would come here quite often, put her in the crawler and she had a huge area to explore!"

Special class! Coffee shops at Changi airport are favourite spots for joint studies.

Rasheeda Bhagat

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In these days of high-security drills at airports, not to mention Indian airports too cramped to handle the increasing loads of air passengers, imagine an airport that invites its citizens to come and savour the airport experience. Never mind if they are not flying; they can just come and spend an evening at one of the swank airport restaurants, or enjoy a cup of coffee at Starbucks or just grab a burger at McDonald’s. And oh, by the way, as they return home, they ca n pick up a few bars of chocolate and their grocery from the supermarket!

Yes, Singapore’s Changi Airport is doing all this and more.

As the Indian journalists invited by the Singapore government on a journalist exchange programme were escorted around the spanking and sprawling Terminal 3, built at a cost of S$1.75 billion and which became operational in January 2008, this information was given and digested. The Civil Aviation Authority of Singapore (CAAS) encourages citizens to make outings to the airport. CAAS director of Corporate Communications Goh Yong Long has a simple answer to our exclamations of surprise.

Each facility rented out at the airport — such as a shop, kiosk, etc — pays not only a fixed rent to CAAS but also a small percentage of additional fee based on the business it does. “So the more you shop at Changi, the more money we make,” he smiles. “And even though we have a full-fledged theatre where you can watch movies, we’d rather you spend your time shopping while waiting to board your flight!”

Cup of coffee, night’s study

Later, one of the officials accompanying us said: “Oh, Singaporeans love to hang out at Changi. My son often comes to study here at night, because it’s so quiet and peaceful here.”

At first one thinks she is joking, but she is serious. “Oh yes, many students do that. Actually places like Starbucks are very friendly towards youngsters. They can come here, buy just a cup of coffee and stay on for hours; nobody bothers them.”

While departing, one opted for a Starbucks coffee and found half of the outlet filled with youngsters armed with textbooks and laptops, many of them also hooked to their iPods. There is no entry fee for visitors and the parking fee is very reasonable too. Of course, Changi is so huge that the departure area is sealed off from casual visitors and can be accessed only by the travellers. “When my sister had a baby who felt very restricted in her flat, we would come here quite often, put her in the crawler and she had a huge area to explore!”

The coffee they drank, the Swensens ice-creams they devoured and the shopping they did, went towards swelling the coffers of CAAS. And that is not all. As NG Tim Peng, Regional Vice President of Changi Airports International Pte Ltd, explained to us, visitors can also access the viewing gallery for departing and arriving aircraft. “Children are fascinated with airplanes and parents often bring their children to this gallery. The child is bound to tell the father: ‘Papa, why don’t we go on a plane?’ The father promises him a trip next year, and I have four more potential customers!”

Building capacity ahead

But all this is possible because CAAS believes in creating capacity ahead of demand. Consider this: At present Changi airport handles over 35 million passengers annually, but it already has the capacity to handle 70 million passengers! Small wonder then that the airport’s facilities are open to its people; after all, Singapore’s total population is only around 4.5 million.

Changi spans an area of 1,300 hectares and half of this was land reclaimed from the sea. Terminal 3 alone has the capacity to handle 22 million passengers; of its 28 aerobridge gates, eight have been designed to handle the new-generation large aircraft such as A380. This terminal is quite different from the other two, and has been specially designed to make maximum use of natural light. Occupying an area of 380,000 sq metres, equivalent to 63 football fields, the seven-storeyed building has three storeys in the basement, with its most unique feature being a five-storey high vertical garden christened ‘Green Wall’, covered with creepers and interspersed with four cascading waterfalls.

Changi has always prided itself on providing air travellers a fascinating shopping experience and on Terminal 3 there are more than 100 retail shops and 40 food and beverage outlets. In all, there are more than 230 shops at the three terminals selling traditional duty-free goods and ethnic Asian speciality items. “A special Price Guarantee Scheme ensures that prices at the airport shops are no higher than that of established retail outlets downtown. Passengers will get a refund of twice the price difference for any product purchased at a higher price at the airport,” says the info-sheet on Changi. The airport also offers a ‘No questions asked money-back guarantee’ on all items, valid up to 30 days from purchase!

A nine-storeyed airport hotel is now being built next to Terminal 3, and will have 350 rooms.

As Goh put it, planning is crucial at Changi and planning ahead is its lifeline. Well before the moment they get the signal that the passenger traffic at Changi is nearing its full capacity, “we will start the project for building Terminal 4!”

But whatever it does, one thing is certain. Travellers will come out of Changi airport with a few distinct impressions… opulent, lush green, comfortable, spacious, unhurried. It is as though they do all it takes to make you relax, and not without a reason. As Goh says, commenting on the free trolleys available at Changi and comparing this to the fee you have to dish out at the US and many European airports: “The passenger has to go through the hassle of taking out the money, finding the right change, etc, to get a trolley. That adds its own bit of stress and might irritate him, so when he comes to the shopping area, he might not shop. But when he is relaxed, as we hope to make him at Changi airport, he will head straight to the shops.”

The idea is not to get “a few dollars”, but make the passenger splurge, something that will fatten the rent kitty of the Changi management!

The many colours of an airport

Theme gardens, where one can walk around ponds; an open-air sunflower garden gives weary passengers a breather from the air-conditioned confines of aircraft/terminal buildings. There's a cactus garden too.

A rooftop swimming pool at Terminal 1 Transit hotel allows travellers to take a quick and refreshing dip before boarding their flights. A sauna, spa and fitness centre is available too.

Internet Access is available not only for those with laptops but others too; there are over 500 free Internet terminals located through the three terminals. But you need to stand and there is a time restriction.

Budget telephone service fitted with over 20 VOIP (Voice Over Internet Protocol) phone booths that leverage the Internet to transmit voice data to local telephone networks in different countries, drastically cutting down the rate of international calls.

Free Singapore tour: Passenger with at least five hours to spare before a connecting flight can enjoy a free 150-minute sightseeing tour of Singapore.

My favourite: Chairs fitted with microphones so that only the occupants can hear the audio corresponding to the visual on the giant television in the lounge. TV buffs can enjoy the programme without bothering others, who might want to read, tune into their iPods, brood, or just snooze!

Response may be sent to rasheeda@thehindu.co.in

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Hangout at Changi