SINGAPORE — Last refurbished in 2006, Changi Airport's Terminal 2 will begin a long-awaited expansion after the Chinese New Year holidays, where it will be adding more than 15,000 sqm of floor space, as well as more food and beverage (F&B) offerings, among other features.

The expansion project will also help increase the terminal’s capacity by five million passengers yearly, which will bring the airport’s total capacity across its four terminals to 90 million a year. 

It is part of a series of improvement works and new additions at the airport over the last decade, the latest being the April 2019 opening of Jewel Changi Airport, a S$1.7 billion retail and leisure complex.

For Terminal 2, the extended floor space will come from reclaiming the gaps between the drop-off points and check-in rows of the departure hall, as well as through the expansion of the arrival transit area, among other plans. 

The expansion is scheduled to be done in phases and is expected to be completed around 2024. 

Mr Tan Lye Teck, Changi Airport Group’s executive vice-president of Airport Management, said: “We will plan the sequence of works and the (construction phases) such that there should be minimal impact on travellers.

“Our aim is that travellers don’t even notice that they’re going through a terminal that is being renovated.” 

In the public area of the airport, the McDonald’s fast-food outlet in the arrival hall will close on Jan 31, while Starbucks in the departure hall will close in April. 

The remaining F&B outlets in the terminal’s public areas will remain open until later phases of the expansion works. 

AREAS TO BE EXPANDED

Departure hall: The two flight information display flip boards, which have been at the terminal since 1999 and are the last ones remaining across all the terminals, will be retired. One of them will be decommissioned in February.

During the expansion works, some airlines will shift operations to alternative check-in rows within the terminal.

The layout of the departure hall will be reconfigured to make more space, and some of the gaps between the drop-off points and the check-in areas will be partially reclaimed to increase the floor area.

The expanded layout will include a spacious common-use Fast and Seamless Travel (Fast) zone, which will have automated kiosks and bag-drop machines that more passengers will be able to use to check in early. This will add to the number of these services already available in the terminal.   

These zones are already operating in Terminal 1 and Terminal 4. 

To the north end, there will be a two-storey “duplex” with F&B outlets.

Passenger handling capacity is set to increase by as much as 20 per cent after the renovation.

Departure and arrival immigration halls: Both the immigration halls will be expanded to cater to higher passenger traffic, and will be reconfigured to support more automated immigration lanes.

For the arrival immigration hall, the Immigration and Checkpoints Authority offices at the side of the hall will be moved to another yet-to-be-determined location to increase the floor space of the hall.

Departure transit hall: There will be more F&B offerings for passengers, and spaces for retail shops will be increased. The area with food kiosks that overlooks the tarmac will be renovated to add more stalls and seating space. 

Some of the floor space will be widened, for instance, one of the walkways leading to the departure gates. 

The expansion means that travellers can look forward to waiting areas with more comfortable seating, more rest areas and a new play area for children.

OTHER FEATURES

Other aspects of the airport, such as baggage handling and its aesthetics, will also be enhanced. 

The baggage claim hall will see two new baggage belts added, bringing the total number of baggage belts to 10. Two existing baggage belts will also be lengthened. 

The early baggage storage system, which stores the luggage of those who are on long transits or have done early check-ins, will be upgraded from being semi-automated to fully automated. It is not known how much luggage can be stored now, but the improved system will allow some 2,300 bags to be stored at one time. 

In keeping with the airport’s garden theme for its terminals, Terminal 2 will have more walled plants and pillars as well as overhanging planters in its various halls.