By DPA
Singapore : Travellers from India and China boosted passenger traffic at Singapore’s Changi Airport to an all-time high of 36.7 million last year, 4.8 percent higher than 2006, the state’s civil aviation authority said Monday.
Visits by Indians and Chinese increased by 15.6 percent and 12.6 percent from the previous year.
“Emerging markets such as Vietnam, Russia and South Africa also saw double-digit growth in traffic at 24.4 percent, 27.7 percent and 15.1 percent respectively,” the authority said.
“We got off to a good start in 2008,” said Chief Executive Officer Lim Kim Choon, citing the opening of a third terminal.
The airport “is in good stead to tap on the strong demand for air travel,” he noted.
The traditional peak travel month of December also set a record for highest monthly traffic. More than 3.5 million passengers went through the airport, a 3 percent increased over the corresponding month in 2006.
On the cargo front, 1.89 million tonnes of air freight was handled in 2007, a marginal slowdown of 0.9 percent “mainly due to the softening demand for electronics in the US, as well as the growing preference by manufacturers to ship their products by sea”.