Singapore Changi Airport had a big year in 2017, with record-breaking traffic numbers, the opening of a new tech-friendly Terminal 4 and new routes and city links.

The Southeast Asia hub handled a record 62.2 million passenger movements last year, a 6 per cent increase year over year. December was the busiest month, seeing 5.86 million passengers.

Traffic across the entire region saw positive growth, with Southeast and Northeast Asia contributing to about 70 per cent of total traffic. Among Changi’s top 10 markets, China and India led with double-digit growth of 12 per cent and 16 per cent respectively.

The airport’s busiest routes were Kuala Lumpur (KUL), Guangzhou (CAN), Brisbane (BNE), Penang (PEN) and Phuket (HKT).

In addition to strong numbers reported in 2017, the airport also welcomed three new passenger airlines last year — Hebei Airlines, Norwegian Air and US-Bangla Airlines. New city links were also established: Harbin (HRB) and Shijiazhuang (SJW) in China; Athens (ATH), Greece; Madurai (IXM), India; Hiroshima (HIJ) and Okinawa (OKA), Japan; Bintulu (BTU), Malaysia; Stockholm (ARN), Sweden; and Honolulu (HNL), Hawai’i, United States.

To improve the overall travel experience for its customers, the airport also launched a new shuttle service in 2017 to facilitate transfers between Changi Airport and Tanah Merah Ferry Terminal.

The airport locked down 26 Best Airport awards in 2017, named by Skytrax and Business Traveller UK. It was also awarded for Best Duty-Free Shopping in Asia and named Best Overall Airport in the World for the second consecutive year in Global Traveler’s 14^th annual GT Tested Reader Survey Awards.

Lim Ching Kiat, managing director, air hub development, Changi Airport, looks ahead to 2018 with further plans of growth: “We expect to see more developments in the long-haul segments to Europe. This includes Scoot’s non-stop service to Berlin, and LOT Polish Airlines’ new service connecting Singapore and Warsaw. We will also welcome the return of Qantas’ Singapore-London route and an overall increase in seat capacity between Singapore and Australia, as well as Lufthansa’s resumption of its service to Munich. At the same time, we will continue our efforts to strengthen our connectivity to secondary cities in China and India — our fastest growing markets in 2017.”