Changi Airport eyes more growth, also announces green initiative

Singapore?s Changi Airport is targeting more growth after the government awarded the aviation hub with a new Aviation Development Fund (ADF) with a budget of $100 million over the next five years.

While launching the new ADF, Raymond Lim, Singapore Minister for Transport, said, ?2009 has been a challenging year for aviation.?

?However, Singapore's aviation industry has faced the downturn with resilience and conviction. Singapore continued to see major new projects in the aviation industry.?

This news comes after the airport announced its entrance into the Asia and Pacific Initiative to Reduce Emissions (ASPIRE) partnership, which aims to accelerate the development of air traffic management procedures which reduce aviation emissions.

Yap Ong Heng, Civil Aviation Authority of Singapore [CAAS] Director-General, said, ?CAAS? participation in ASPIRE demonstrates its commitment to adopting best practices in air navigation to play its part in addressing aviation emissions and the environment.?

Changi Airport officially entered ASPIRE on the 1st of February, which saw Singapore Airlines SQ11 from Los Angles to Singapore via Tokyo flown with the new greener best practices.

Explaining how these procedures will make the flight greener, Bey Soo Khiang, Singapore Airlines SVP Operations and Planning, said, ?This includes strict control on the aircraft weight, regular engine wash, and airframe wash and polish programmes.?

?For this particular flight, on top of these regular measures, we will employ real-time updates of weather conditions to chart the most efficient routing for the aircraft instead of flying a predetermined route.?

Sourced = The e Travel Blackboard