APA Issue 1, 2021
REMAINING RESILIENT Lim Ching Kiat, managing director, air hub development at Changi Airport Group, explains how Changi Airport is helping maintain Singapore’s air cargo supply chain and spearheading its recovery from COVID-19.
C
OVID-19 has gravely impacted the global aviation industry and cargo volumes at Singapore Changi initially proved no exception, with throughput down due to the significant reduction in belly-hold capacity on passenger flights. Indeed, in the earlier months of 2020, international border restrictions severely weakened air travel demand forcing many airlines to reduce frequencies or cease services altogether. The situation meant that Changi Airport Group (CAG) had to work closely with its airline partners to close air cargo capacity gaps and minimise disruptions to supply chains. Together, we tripled our weekly cargo flights and welcomed five new scheduled freighter operators into the Changi airline family in 2020. The new services helped Changi Airport handle 1.54 million tonnes of air freight in 2020, a year-on-year decrease of 23%. Our air trade (comprising imports and exports), on the other hand, was fairly resilient with a much lower contraction rate
34
of 10% year-on-year. Despite the contraction in overall air cargo volumes, we saw bright spots in verticals such as pharmaceuticals and semiconductors. According to Seabury, Singapore’s air trade (imports and exports) for pharmaceuticals and semiconductors registered a 16.1% and 6.2% year-on-year growth respectively in 2020 in terms of air tonnage. COVID-19 vaccines will play a critical role in the global recovery from the pandemic, and the efficient and safe distribution of these vaccines by air is vital to support global vaccination efforts. Given the time and temperature sensitivity of the vaccines, there is a need to ensure that the air cargo supply chain has adequate cold chain capabilities. In preparing our air cargo community for the COVID-19 vaccine distribution, CAG, together with the Civil Aviation Authority of Singapore, established a local public-private partnership taskforce – the Changi Ready Taskforce – to ensure the safe, reliable and efficient handling and
