For such a small island state, Singapore is thinking big about the expansion of Changi Airport. A project to create a fifth passenger terminal and a third runway will cost an estimated $10 billion. Developers have prepared a total area of 1,080 hectares for the project. When completed, the Changi East development will boost the airport’s capacity by 50 million passengers per annum to a total 140 million.
Plans call for the two-phase development to become operational in the mid-2030s. Construction paused for two years during the pandemic, allowing for a design review, according to the government-owned Changi Airport Group (CAG). Design features include substantial employment of robotics, fixed ground power, and provision for sustainable aviation fuel. It could feature hydrogen fueling as well, as CAG has partnered with Airbus, the Civil Aviation of Singapore, and gas company Linde to study the subject.
The expansion will also include an industrial zone and a new cargo zone, bringing the airport’s total airfreight capacity to 5.4 million tonnes per annum from 3 million tonnes today.
Land reclamation for the expansion started in 2014. However, a third parallel runway already in place served a squadron of Republic of Singapore Air Force (RSAF) F-16s that has relocated to Tengah Air Base while crews extend the runway from 8,800 feet to 13,000 feet.
Although Changi East will primarily serve the airlines, plans call for a fourth parallel runway for military use. The RSAF’s fleet of six A330 MRTT air refueling tankers already sits on site in a big hangar. (The RSAF also has facilities on the west side of the airport, including hangars and an apron for its fleet of five Fokker 50 maritime patrol aircraft.)
Paya Lebar Air Base Prepares to Close
In the meantime, there is a big upheaval pending in the RSAF’s real estate. In 2011, the Singapore government began planning the closure of Paya Lebar Air Base (PLAB), which served as Singapore’s international airport until Changi opened in 1980, when the RSAF and Singapore Technologies (ST) Engineering took over. The 800-hectare site would house 160,000 new dwellings, plus industrial units and parkland. Officials confirmed the plan two years later, around the same time that Changi East won approval.
Airpower observers expressed surprise by the decision since PLAB hosts the RSAF’s two F-15SG Strike Eagle squadrons and its C-130 Hercules squadron. The F-15s sit in hardened aircraft shelters built into a hillside. Tengah now is the only other air base that can house the RSAF’s four F-16 fighter squadrons.
The RSAF has attempted to mitigate the risk of attack on Singapore's airfields by creating emergency runways on straight stretches of road near Changi and Tengah. On the other hand, Paya Lebar is surrounded by housing and industrial buildings. Because the usual approach crosses the Marina Bay and part of the central business district, no structure can be more than 800 feet high. That restriction will lift when the base closes.
Meanwhile, a big expansion at Tengah is underway. It lies on the relatively unpopulated western side of Singapore, adjacent to the largest military training area on the island. Construction of a second runway will presumably happen along the Lim Chu Kang road, which already partly serves as an emergency runway. But the area also contains large Chinese and Muslim cemeteries covering 318 hectares. Their size will shrink by one-third; 80,000 graves are being exhumed and six farms will be demolished.
The other key occupant of PLAB— ST Engineering—does Boeing 767 overhauls and freighter conversions there. It is also where ST Engineering performs maintenance on most RSAF aircraft, and where the RSAF’s F-16s undergo upgrades to the F-16V configuration. ST Engineering is also overhauling foreign military aircraft here, mostly C-130s.
To offset its loss of hangarage at PLAB, the company broke ground on a new $125 million airframe maintenance facility at Changi last September. It is located at Changi Creek, not far from the threshold of Runway 20R. The 904,000 sq ft structure will include four bays for widebody aircraft servicing.