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The pandemic has affected passenger numbers at Singapore’s bustling Changi Airport, but this may not mean less work for ground officers who now have to clear those arriving in Singapore through a multi-step process.
Flights have dropped to 80 a week from 7,400 in normal times, and planes that used to pack hundreds now carry just 10.
In a Facebook post last Friday, Transport Minister Khaw Boon Wan said the airport now handles only around 100 arrival and 700 departure passengers a day.
While flights used to connect the airport to some 380 cities, inbound flights from less than 10 cities have continued. They include London, Frankfurt, Los Angeles, Jakarta, Manila, Tokyo, and Kuala Lumpur.
However, despite the fact that air traffic has plummeted, Covid-19 has posed greater challenges in clearing arriving passengers, now almost exclusively to returning residents of Singapore.
Since January 30, the Ministry of Transportation (MOT) has been coordinating a joint effort between various agencies to manage the management process for residents returning to Changi Airport, as the Republic gradually expanded quarantine requirements and notice of home stay at more locations.
To date, more than 7,000 of these returnees have received assistance.
The agencies involved include the Singapore Civil Aviation Authority and the Immigration and Control Authority, as well as the security firm Certis and Raffles Medical Group.
Bernard Lim, senior director of MOT’s international relations and security division, said officers from various agencies work three shifts that are approximately eight hours each, and take half an hour to an hour to prepare in advance.
The process begins the day before, where airline data on the number of returnees is collected, so hotels and buses can prepare in advance.
After passengers leave their aircraft, they go through two sets of thermal scanners that monitor their temperatures. Those who have a high temperature or who are not well are taken to medical points for check-ups.
If they are suspected of having Covid-19, they are immediately taken by ambulance to the National Center for Infectious Diseases.
Otherwise, returnees proceed to the immigration checkpoint where they are sent a notice to stay home.
After collecting their luggage, they go to a bay where the buses will take them to one of the 33 hotels prepared to accommodate them during the 14-day period of stay in the home, a requirement for all returnees from 11.59 pm on April 9 .
The entire process, involving between 15 and 20 officers from around eight agencies, can be completed in half an hour.
Despite the extra precautions and measures, Singaporeans who returned and spoke to The Straits Times found the process very easy.
Memta R. Jagtiani, 24, who returned from London on a Singapore Airlines (SIA) flight last Tuesday, calculated that it took half an hour from the time she disembarked at Terminal 3 to the time she He boarded his bus bound for Swissotel The Stamford.
“The airport staff was quite helpful: my luggage was removed from my belt. The whole process went smoothly and quickly,” said the PhD student at University College London.
Similarly, Ms. Denise Cheah, 25, a medical graduate from Cambridge University, also said she was quite impressed by how quickly everything moved.
He returned on an SIA flight from London on April 1, days after the stay-at-home rule applied for those returning from Britain and the United States starting at 11:59 pm on March 25.
MOT and other agencies have also helped some foreign citizens, from Chile, the Netherlands, Australia, Poland and Malaysia, among others, to transit in Changi, at the request of their embassies.
Lim said these passengers remain on board the plane while refueling, or in “exceptional cases” disembark and transfer to another parked aircraft within a short walking distance.
Operations at Changi airport involve a lot of coordination and logistics, Lim said, adding that reviews are done after each flight to see what can be improved.
“Through what we are doing at the airport, we want those returning to know that Singapore cares about them, and we are happy that they have returned home safely.”
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