Singapore’s Changi Airport finished a record 2015, surpassing traffic from previous years. The airport saw a total of 55.4 million travelers, an increase of 2.5 per cent, with 346,330 landings and take-offs, an increase of 1.4 per cent, throughout the year. In addition to beating its annual records, Changi Airport also surpassed its monthly record and nearly passed its daily record. The highest-ever airport traffic was seen during the month of December, when the airport serviced 5.29 million passengers. On Dec. 19, the airport saw more than 192,000 passengers in a single day.

The most significant increases were seen from the airport’s top 10 markets, with traffic from Thailand increasing by 12.5 per cent, traffic from Vietnam increasing by 7.2 per cent and traffic from China increasing by 7 per cent. In contrast, the airport saw a 7.3 per cent decrease of traffic from Indonesia.

Changi Airport’s busiest route during the year was its Jakarta route, which serviced 3.79 million passengers. Following close behind were Bangkok, Kuala Lumpur, Hong Kong and Manila.

Eight new carriers also began service at Changi Airport during 2015, including Oman Air, Batik Air, Thai Lion Air, Myanmar National Airlines, Air New Zealand, My Indo Airlines, Polar Air Cargo and AirBridgeCargo. Destinations offered by airlines out of Changi Airport increased, allowing passengers access to Changchun, Quanzhou, Sanya, Yinchuan, Muscat, Cairns, Lucknow, Luang Prabang, Pattaya (U-Tapao) and Cincinnati.

Airfreight remained at its current levels from 2014, at 1.85 million tons, with three of the eight new carriers focused primarily on airfreight and one of the 10 new destinations being primarily airfreight-focused. Despite, however, the static overall totals of airfreight processed through the airport, the types of airfreight did change, with pharmaceutical cargo processing growing by 44 per cent over the year.

“2015 was a year of two halves for Changi Airport,” said Lee Seow Hiang, CEO, Changi Airport Group. “Following 2014, which saw a number of airline incidents in the region and depressed yields for many regional carriers, we had a relatively weak first six months with flat growth for the period. Nevertheless, we pressed on to actively woo new airlines and seek growth opportunities with existing ones, and our efforts have yielded some positive outcomes.”