World's best airport handles over 17 million passengers in Q1

Passenger traffic in the first quarter was nearly 5% higher than pre-Covid levels in 2019, The Straits Times reported citing the airport's quarterly report.

China was Changi's largest market in the first quarter by passenger traffic, followed by Indonesia, Malaysia, Australia, and Thailand.

Experts attribute this surge to the introduction of a 30-day mutual visa-free travel agreement between Singapore and China in February last year.

China has now become the largest source of visitors to Singapore, with over 830,000 arrivals in the first quarter.

Changi Airport handled 67.7 million passengers last year, nearly matching the record 68.3 million passengers in 2019.

Renowned for its cutting-edge facilities, Changi offers automated check-ins and biometric authentication to streamline immigration processes. Recently, it became one of the first airports globally to introduce passport-free immigration clearance across all terminals, allowing travelers to clear immigration in as little as 10 seconds.

Changi was also recently named the world's best airport for 2025 at the World Airport Awards, organized by London-based aviation consultancy Skytrax. This follows its loss of the title to Qatar's Hamad International Airport last year.

The rankings were based on a global survey which gathered responses from over 13 million airport users across more than 100 countries between August 2024 and February 2025.