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Changi Airport to stop final call announcements, paging of late passengers

Travellers seen at Changi Airport’s Terminal 3. (PHOTO: Reuters)
Travellers seen at Changi Airport’s Terminal 3. (PHOTO: Reuters)

Come this Monday (1 January), Changi Airport will become a quieter place as final calls for passengers to board their flights and the paging of specific passengers are ceased.

As part of its Quiet Terminal Initiative, announcements at all four of the airport’s terminals will be limited to essential ones – such as those pertaining to flight delays, lost children and gate or belt changes – the Changi Airport Group (CAG) said in a news release on Wednesday.

The move will see a 50 per cent reduction in announcements made at the airport and will help to create a “more relaxed environment for passengers”, said CAG. Each terminal currently sees about one announcement made every five minutes.

“With more flights and passengers, maintaining the present frequency of announcements will mean noisier terminals and more interruptions in time to come,” said the CAG release, which noted that Changi Airport will have handled more than 60 million passenger movements by the end of this year.

“One concern is that passengers may pay less attention to the announcements made over the public address system, crowding out the more critical announcements,” added CAG.

In late 2013, CAG also worked with airlines to reduce the number of announcements made for late passengers. Since the changes were implemented in 2014, there has been “no observable impact on the number passengers showing up late for their flights” nor have the airlines given any feedback on there being more passengers missing their flights, said CAG.

Other airports around the world that have implemented the same initiative include those in Hong Kong, Munich and Doha. At the Brussels Airport, for example, no public announcements of any kind are made except in an emergency.

CAG said that the airlines operating at Changi Airport have been briefed to emphasise the boarding time to their passengers during check-in, and to advise them to be at their respective gates on time.

“Messages will also be in place on the various flight information display screens, Changi Airport website and iChangi app to inform passengers of the cessation of the final calls,” CAG added.

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