Singapore’s Changi Airport – the world’s most awarded airport with 680 awards to its name – has today released new figures for the first half of 2024, showcasing sustained post-Covid recovery. Changi Airport registered 33 million passenger movements from January to June 2024, representing 99.4% recovery in passenger numbers compared to the same period in 2019, and exceeding 2023 figures at 120%.

In the first half of 2024, passenger traffic between United Kingdom and Singapore has reached approximately 96% of pre-Covid levels, rendering the UK as Changi Airport’s largest market in Europe, with close to 800,000 passengers travelling to and from UK during this period.

In 1H 2024, North America continues to be the fastest growing region, registering a 40.8% increase year-on-year, and also exceeding pre-Covid levels. The airport’s top five markets for the first six months of the year were China, Indonesia, Malaysia, Australia and Thailand.

Changi has worked closely with airlines to expand connectivity to Southeast Asia and Oceania through Singapore from the UK. The newly launched Singapore Airlines Gatwick route to Changi means there are now 54 weekly services between Singapore and London, bringing one-way weekly seats between the two cities to close to 20,000, across British Airways, Singapore Airlines and Qantas. In addition to London, there are also five Singapore Airlines services to and from Manchester Airport every week.

Top connections for UK travellers through Singapore Changi Airport

Post-Covid, Australia and New Zealand remain the most popular destinations for UK travellers connecting at Changi Airport, with Sydney, Melbourne, Brisbane, Perth and Auckland being the top five cities visited. Singapore is the most connected international gateway to Australia, with eight city links and over 220 weekly flights to Australia from Changi.

Outside of Oceania, the next favourite countries visited by UK travellers in 2023 via Singapore are in Southeast Asia, the top five of which are Indonesia, Thailand, Malaysia, Philippines and Vietnam. Within these countries, UK travellers visited the cities of Bali, Kuala Lumpur, Manila, Phuket and Bangkok most last year. (See table below for top 10 countries and cities visited in 2023 excluding Australia and New Zealand.)

Top 10 Countries via SIN (ex-Oceania)

Top 10 Destinations via SIN (ex-Oceania)

Indonesia

Bali (Indonesia)

Thailand

Kuala Lumpur (Malaysia)

Malaysia

Manila (Philippines)

Philippines

Phuket (Thailand)

Vietnam

Bangkok (Thailand)

Cambodia

Jakarta (Indonesia)

Japan

Penang (Malaysia)

South Korea

Ho Chi Minh City (Vietnam)

Republic of China (Taiwan)

Hanoi (Vietnam)

Hong Kong SAR

Koh Samui (Thailand)

Strong connectivity to Southeast Asia

Passenger traffic between the UK and Southeast Asia has been growing rapidly. Changi Airport is directly connected to as many as 38 cities across 10 countries, offering travellers a wide variety of options and seamless connections to the region, whether for work or leisure. Many of these cities boast a good mix of beautiful natural landscapes, unique cultural experiences and tantalising local fare, and can be reached via a short flight from Singapore, such as Lombok and Yogyakarta in Indonesia, Langkawi and Kota Kinabalu in Malaysia, Chiangmai and Krabi in Thailand and Vientiane in Laos.

Changi Airport has continued to bring more destinations in the region to travellers through the year. New airline Aero Dili opened a route from Changi Airport to Timor Leste’s Koror in February this year. Scoot, the sister airline of Singapore Airlines, commenced services to Thailand’s Koh Samui and Malaysia’s Sibu with its brand-new Embraer jets, while adding frequencies to other popular Southeast Asian destinations. Jetstar Asia, the sister brand of Qantas, also launched flights to Clark in the Philippines, Krabi in Thailand and Broome in Australia. Further routes to Perth for Jetstar and Darwin for Qantas are also scheduled to launch in August and early next year respectively.