Singapore Changi Airport’s Terminal 3 – A Green Oasis
9 January 2008
Singapore Changi Airport

Singapore Changi Airport’s Terminal 3 –A Green Oasis

Starting 12 November 2007, the public can get a sneak preview of Terminal 3 (T3) before it opens for operations early next year. During the T3 Open House, which ends on 9 December 2007, the public can visit T3 anytime from 10am to 5pm on weekdays and, 9am to 6pm on Saturdays and Sundays.

Visiting the public areas of T3 is free of charge. A T3 Open House guide brochure (available in English, Chinese, Malay and Tamil) will be available to assist visitors in exploring the new terminal on their own. To visit the transit (restricted) areas, interested members of the public may purchase an admission ticket at T3’s departure hall. Each ticket costs S$1 for a self-guided tour or S$3 for a guided tour lasting about 45 minutes. Children aged 3 years old and below can enter the transit areas for free. All proceeds from the sale of admission tickets will be donated to the Singapore Cancer Society, a charitable organisation adopted by the Civil Aviation Authority of Singapore (CAAS).

Introduction
Changi Airport ’s new passenger terminal, Terminal 3, will open on 9 January 2008. The 380,000 square metres terminal, located directly opposite Terminal 2, is a seven-storey building with three basements and four above ground levels.

Terminal 3 and its associated works cost S$1.75 billion. It will add a capacity of 22 million passengers a year, bringing the total capacity of Changi Airport to 70 million passengers. Terminal 3 will add another 28 aerobridge gates to Changi Airport, with up to eight that have been designed to handle the new generation of large aircraft, the A380.

Design Concept

Passengers using Terminal 3 can move around with ease and minimal dependence on signages. This is possible as Terminal 3 adopts a see-through layout concept, making it easier for travellers to orientate themselves. This is part of the four guiding principles adopted by the Civil Aviation Authority of Singapore (CAAS) when designing Terminal 3, namely, clarity, natural lighting, external views and maintainability.

Clarity
Travellers will find their passage through Terminal 3 simple and natural. Dependency on signage is minimal as individuals can easily orientate themselves.

Natural Lighting
More natural lighting would be introduced into the building to create an open and spacious ambience.

External Views
Passengers will have extensive visual access to the external landscapes that surround them, including take-offs and landings of aircraft. Such attractions make queuing less tedious and contribute to the terminal’s overall sense of openness.

Maintainability
Terminal 3 would be designed for ease of maintenance.

Unique Features
Terminal 3 features a unique roof architecture which allows soft natural light into the building while keeping the tropical heat out. The one-of-its-kind roof design has 919 skylights with specially designed reflector panels which automatically adjust themselves to allow an optimal amount of soft and uniform daylight into the terminal building. At night, the skylights glow with artificial lighting delicately concealed below the reflector panels. The overall effect is a soothing ambience at all times of the day.

Another key highlight of Terminal 3 is a five-storey high vertical garden, called the “Green Wall”. Spanning 300 metres across the main building, it can be admired from both the Departure and Arrival Halls. The “Green Wall” is covered with 25 species of climbing plants and is interspersed with four cascading waterfalls. In addition, a sculptured sandstone art wall display with multi-language welcome messages located below the “Green Wall” offers an artistic treat for arriving passengers waiting for their baggage.

Retail and Food & Beverage
On the commercial front, more than 25,000 square metres of floor space has been set aside for more than 100 retail, over 40 food & beverage outlets and over 20 service concessions. To complement the see-through layout concept of Terminal 3, the Departure/Transit Mall is designed to provide a compact single shopping street layout that enhances the visibility of the retail outlets. The extensive use of glass in the terminal will allow passengers a vantage view of both the airside and landside shopping and dining zones.

Since early 2007, CAAS has issued invitations for proposals for the various commercial concessions at Changi Airport such as liquor and tobacco, perfumes and cosmetics, computers and electronics, fashionwear, watches and jewellery, chocolates & delicatessen, books and magazines, gifts and souvenirs and specialty shops.

Baggage Handling System
Terminal 3 will have a fully-automated baggage system which includes a highspeed inter-terminal baggage transfer system and an automated early bag storage facility. Baggage of transfer passengers making connections at different terminals will be transported individually through underground tunnels at a speed of 7 metres per second. This means it will take only about three minutes for a bag to be transported through the underground baggage tunnel between Terminals 2 and 3.

The baggage handling system will also have an automated early baggage storage system, where bags that are checked-in early or transfer bags with long connection times are stored. Besides allowing for automatic bag storage and retrieval, the system is also able to automatically update changes in flight itinerary of passengers and thus discharge the bags to the right connecting flights. The new baggage system will also have an integrated multi-level baggage security screening system to automatically screen bags.

New Automated People Mover (Skytrain)
The new Automated People Mover System comprises ten train services linking Changi Airport’s three terminals through 6.5 kilometres of elevated train tracks. The new system has a total of seven train stations: two stations each in Terminal 1 and Terminal 2 and three stations in Terminal 3.

The new trains, each with a capacity of 97 passengers are equipped with LCD screens providing flight information and other airport information. The trains’ cabins also have more vertical stanchions and handholds, as well as designated areas for baggage trolleys, enhancing the convenience of users. There are also plasma TV displays at the train stations to inform passengers of the arrival time of the next train.

Airport Hotel
The Crowne Plaza Hotel, which occupies a site of approximately 7,700 square metres, is located next to Terminal 3.

The airport hotel will be a 9-storey building with up to 350 guest rooms. It will be equipped with amenities and facilities such as a swimming pool, restaurants, meeting and conference rooms, spa lounges as well as a health and fitness club.

The airport hotel will be physically linked to Terminal 3. Hotel guests will also be able to reach Terminal 1 and Terminal 2 via an elevated People Mover System that will link all the three passenger terminals. In addition, there will be easy access from the hotel to the Changi Airport Mass Rapid Transit station, to facilitate guests heading to other parts of Singapore.

Integrated Airport System Trials
The Civil Aviation Authority of Singapore (CAAS) and relevant airport agencies are conducting integrated trials of various airport systems to prepare the terminal for its operational opening. The objectives of the integrated trials conducted at Terminal 3 are to test the passengers’ departure and arrival flow through the terminal, integration of various airport systems and to familiarise airport staff with the systems and procedures in the new terminal environment.

The tests and trials conducted include:

a) Passenger check-in process at the Departure Check-in Hall. This includes the passenger check-in procedures and system integration of the airline’s departure control system with check-in equipment.

b) Baggage handling system. To test the transmission of passengers’ data between the airlines’ departure control system and the baggage handling system database to ensure bags are sorted and delivered to the correct departing aircraft in a timely manner.

c) Immigration clearance system at the Departure Immigration. The Immigration and Checkpoints Authority is testing the immigration clearance system for departing passengers.

d) Passenger flow through the security screening process at the gate holdroom. To test the security screening procedures and equipment.

Since June 2007, CAAS has been conducting integrated trials such as passenger flow, integration of various airport systems, as well as total integration involving system and human (airport staff and other users). In all, CAAS has planned for more than 50 trials over these few months involving more than 5,000 participants including airport staff and volunteers from tertiary institutions and government agencies.