Jetstar in talks with Changi Airport over move to Terminal 4: Iswaran
SINGAPORE — Jetstar Group and Changi Airport Group (CAG) are in talks to ensure that the low-cost airline’s operations stay effective at the air hub, said Transport Minister S Iswaran on Tuesday (30 August), following Jetstar’s rejection of the planned move to Terminal 4.
“It is important to do this well rather than do it fast," said Iswaran, according to a report by CNA.
Speaking during a media tour of T4, Iswaran added, "If it means taking a little bit more time, but making sure that all the key elements are taken care of well, to the reasonable satisfaction of all the parties involved.”
On 22 July, CAG announced the restart of T4’s operations on 13 September, with 16 airlines relocating to T4 in stages including Jetstar on 25 October.
Shortly after CAG’s statement, Jetstar slammed CAG for its unilateral move to relocate the airline’s flights to T4.
In response to queries from Yahoo New Singapore, Jetstar, which operates in Singapore mainly at Changi’s T1 and to a lesser extent at T2, said, “We are extremely disappointed that the Changi Airport Group (CAG) has chosen to unilaterally announce a plan to relocate the Jetstar Group to Terminal 4 at Changi International Airport, before any agreement has been reached.”
The airline said a joint study was agreed to be undertaken previously and CAG’s announcement “completely disregards” the agreement and the impact of such a move on its flight operations.
Until an agreement is reached, Jetstar said it has no intention of moving and has informed CAG about its decision.
Following Jetstar’s announcement, CAG told Yahoo News Singapore in a separate statement that its engagement with Jetstar on its move to T4 began in 2019.
CAG said that to optimise the airport’s limited capacity across its four terminals, the best solution was to move Jetstar to T4. With traffic at Changi Airport strongly rebounding this year, CAG said it has to urgently rebalance the airport’s traffic across its terminals quickly in the coming months.
Noting that Jetstar currently operates mostly narrow-bodied aircraft, CAG said T4 is a "very good fit" for the airline, with 17 gates to support such aircraft.
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