Changi Airport has awarded Xiamen Airlines overall Partner of the Year award for its substantial contribution to the development of Changi Airport. Among Chinese airlines operating at Changi, Xiamen Airlines is the third largest in terms of passenger carriage and the one with the widest Singapore – China network through its connectivity to seven Chinese cities.
Last year, Xiamen Airlines inked a three-year Memorandum of Collaboration with Changi Airport Group to jointly grow traffic and connectivity between Singapore and China, as well as to pursue commercial collaborations. The airline added its fourth daily service serving the Xi’an – Hangzhou – Singapore route in March 2015 doubling capacity on the Singapore – Hangzhou route. It also partnered CAG in a series of market development initiatives including travel trade seminars in Xi’an, Zhengzhou and Johor Bahru to help grow travel demand.
Xiamen Airlines, China’s only all Boeing carrier, carried over 370,000 passengers to and from Changi last year, a 30% increase year-on-year. The China market has registered a compounded annual growth rate of 11% in passenger traffic since 2011. Xiamen Airlines was formed in 1984 as China’s first joint venture between the Civil Aviation Administration of China and a municipal government. It started flying passengers in 1985 with two 737-200s serving three cities. Today the carrier has a fleet of 135 aircraft comprising 17 737-700s, 108 737-800s, 4 757-200s and 6 787-9 Dreamliners.
Boeing and Xiamen Airlines just finalised an order for 10 Next-Generation 737-800s valued at US$960 million at list prices on 26 April 2016.
Last year, the top five airlines operating at Changi Airport in terms of passenger carriage include Singapore Airlines, Tigerair, SilkAir, Jetstar Asia and AirAsia.
For cargo, Singapore Airlines Cargo tops the list of carriers with the highest cargo volume with FedEx Express, Cathay Pacific, China Airlines and Air Hong Kong following.
It was a year of resilience and recovery for Changi Airport in 2015. The second half of the year showed a turnaround in passenger traffic led by the recovery in intra-Asian travel. Eight new scheduled airlines and 10 new city links were introduced. The year ended with a passenger traffic growth of 2.5% to 55.4 million passengers, an all time high.
The growth momentum continues in 2016. Changi Airport achieved growth of 10% in the first quarter on the back of strong travel demand across all major markets. The airport’s top five country markets including China, Malaysia and Thailand all enjoyed double-digit growth.
In the months to come, Singapore Airlines will launch new services to Dusseldorf, Canberra and Wellington. In June, United Airlines will introduce non stop service between Singapore and San Francisco.
Top Airline by Absolute Growth in Passenger Carriage
- Americas – United Airlines
- Europe – Air France
- Middle East and Africa – Emirates
- Northeast Asia – All Nippon Airways
- Singapore – SilkAir
- South Asia – Air India
- Southeast Asia – Thai Airways
- Southwest Pacific – Qantas
Best Airline Marketing – All Nippon Airways
