Singapore: India continues to be a very important market for Singapore Changi Airport, ranking among the top 10 countries by passenger traffic and airfreight tonnage.
"In 2012, passenger traffic between India and Singapore increased by 10.4 percent," Changi Airport spokesman told PTI Thursday.
But on the cargo front, shipments between the two countries declined 7.2 percent, resulting from uncertainties in the global economy.
"With eight airlines operating more than 400 weekly flights between Singapore and 12 cities in India, Changi Airport is now the most connected point to India from Southeast Asia," he said.
Meanwhile, Changi Airport handled 51.2 million passengers last year, an increase of 10 percent on the year, despite the gloomy economic environment.
But cargo volumes declined 3.2 percent to 1.81 million tonnes, suppressed by uncertainties in the global economy, Changi Airport authorities said.
Flight movements grew 7.6 percent to 324,700 during the year. Despite weak market conditions in the Eurozone, passenger traffic between Singapore and Europe grew 7.5 percent.
Closer to home, Changi continued to experience strong growth in the South Asia (12.4 percent), Northeast Asia (9.9 percent), Southeast Asia (9.7 percent) and Southwest Pacific (9.4 percent) regions.
Changi Airport's connectivity to secondary cities increased during the year, linking it to Australia's Gold Coast, Paro in Bhutan, Taiyuan in China, Visakhapatnam in India, Padang in Indonesia, Kota Bahru in Malaysia and Iloilo in the Philippines.
Changi Airport was handling more than 6,500 weekly scheduled flights with 110 airlines connecting Singapore to 240 cities in 60 countries around the world at the start of this year.
First Published: Thursday, January 31, 2013, 18:23