Singapore Changi Airport Terminal 3 finally starts operations

Singapore Changi Airport's new Terminal 3 finally commenced operations in January 2008 after years of anticipation and S$1.75 billion. Designed by CPG Corporation and Skidmore, Owings and Merrill LP, the 380,000-square-metre building is located directly opposite Terminal 2 with three basement floors and four levels above ground.

The T3's most outstanding feature is a unique “butterfly” roof architecture which allows soft natural light into the building while keeping the tropical heat out. The one-of-its-kind roof design has 919 skylights with specially designed reflector panels which automatically adjust themselves to allow an optimal amount of soft and uniform daylight into the terminal building. At night, the skylights glow with artificial lighting that is delicately concealed below the reflector panels.

Another key highlight of Terminal 3 is a five-storey high vertical garden called "The Green Wall" . Spanning 300 metres across the main building, it can be admired from the departure and arrival halls, and baggage carousels. The Green Wall is covered with climbing plants and is interspersed with four cascading waterfalls.

To complement the see-through layout concept of T3, the departure/transit mall is designed to provide a compact single shopping street layout that enhances the visibility of the retail outlets. The extensive use of glass in the terminal will allow passengers a vantage view of both the airside and landside shopping and dining zones. T3 houses over 100 retail shops and 40 food & beverage outlets. It has the first Guylian Belgian Chocolate Café outside Belgium, the first Ferrari travel retail outlet outside Europe, the first FIFA World store in the world, the first airport outlet for Apple and Sony, the first Vertu airport boutique in Southeast Asia, the first SK-II airport beauty cabin and first Hard Rock Café in a major international airport.

T3 adds a capacity of 22 million passengers per annum to Changi Airport, bringing the airport's total annual capability to about 70 million passenger movements. There are 28 aerobridge gates in T3; among them are eight gates that are designed to handle the A380 aircraft, bringing the total of A380 gates at Changi Airport to 19 across all three main terminals.

Singapore Airlines' long-haul flights will operate out of Terminal 3 and its regional flights will operate out of Terminal 2. Four other airlines, namely China Eastern Airlines, Jet Airways, Qatar Airways and United Airlines, will commence operations at Terminal 3 in March 2008.