Changi Airport's T5 to create jobs, business opportunities for Singaporeans, says PM Wong at groundbreaking
When the mega terminal's first phase is completed in the mid-2030s, it will be able to handle about 50 million passengers annually.
Prime Minister Lawrence Wong (centre) looks at a mock up of Changi Airport Terminal 5 during a groundbreaking ceremony on May 14, 2025. (Photo: CNA/Wallace Woon)
SINGAPORE: Changi Airport's Terminal 5 (T5) is a "significant engineering undertaking" that will benefit both local businesses and jobseekers, said Prime Minister Lawrence Wong during the groundbreaking ceremony of the mega project on Wednesday (May 14).
T5 will bring many more opportunities for Singaporeans, said Mr Wong, who is also Finance Minister.
The construction of the terminal itself will be "significant” and "complex", he said in a speech at the ceremony, which is held at the Changi East Site where T5 will be built.
"Our local businesses will have the opportunity to participate in this process, some already are involved in some of the ongoing work," he said.
The terminal - built on a plot of land about 20 per cent bigger than Toa Payoh - will have three different parts connected by automated people movers akin to the existing sky trains, while its location could pave the way for air-sea transfers via Tanah Merah Ferry Terminal.
The Singapore Airlines (SIA) Group will consolidate SIA and Scoot operations under one roof at T5 for better “operational synergies”, the group said separately on Wednesday.
The terminal will also be able to withstand extreme weather and climate change effects, and will be designed to deploy technology at scale.
Mr Wong said that when T5 is operational, there will also be more demand for services and workers, both in the airport and in other industries that will grow together with it.
“This will provide more jobs for Singaporeans, requiring new skillsets in areas like data science, robotics, and sustainability,” he added.
Mr Wong said that over the longer term, air travel is on a growth trajectory, and the bulk of the growth will take place in the Asia-Pacific.
He noted that Changi currently has around 170 city links, and the number is growing.
Mr Wong added that T5 will support the goal of reaching more than 200 city links by the mid-2030s.
When the first phase of the T5 project is completed in the mid-2030s, the terminal will be able to handle about 50 million passengers annually.
Changi Airport’s existing four terminals now have a 90 million passenger capacity, and they handled 68.4 million passengers in the past financial year.
The opening of T5 will expand Changi Airport’s capacity by over 50 per cent to 140 million, and place it among the world’s mega airports, defined as those that handle more than 100 million passengers a year.
Timeline of Terminal 5
The mega project was first announced in 2013 by then-Prime Minister Lee Hsien Loong in his National Day Rally speech.
Land preparation works for Changi East - which the terminal will be on - and the planning for T5 began in 2014, including the functional design studies and concept development for the terminal.
There was a two-year pause to the T5 project in 2020 due to the COVID-19 pandemic. Its design was reviewed to meet the needs of post-pandemic travel.
In 2022, work on the T5 project resumed, with its design altered to be more modular, resilient and sustainable.
On May 14, 2025, Prime Minister Lawrence Wong broke ground for T5, with works on the terminal to start thereafter. Construction is projected to span over a decade, with the first phase opening in the mid-2030s.
WHAT T5 WILL LOOK LIKE
Built on a plot almost as big as the land area of the existing airport, the first phase of T5 will consist of three different parts, T5A, T5B and T5C.
T5A will be where facilities such as the immigration halls, baggage claim halls and boarding gates will be.
Connected to this will be T5B, which will be where more boarding gates will be located.
In total, T5A and T5B will have 49 contact stands, or parking areas for aircraft that connect to the boarding gates.
T5C will have more boarding gates, but it will be in a separate building from T5A and T5B. This is to allow for a taxiway between the buildings, so planes can taxi to gates on the opposite side of T5 without having to make a detour.
T5C will have 22 contact stands, about the same number as Terminal 4.
The different parts of T5 will be connected via a train system dubbed the “automated people mover system”. The trains will primarily travel above ground, but with T5C being in a separate building from the other T5 parts, the train will go underground under the taxiway when travelling to T5C.
The distance between T5A and T5C is about 2km.
The distance that passengers have to walk, however, will still be comparable to what they would cover in the current terminals, given the network of travellators and trains.
Most passengers arriving in Singapore will be able to hop onto a taxi or MRT within 30 minutes after leaving their aircraft, said CAG chief executive officer Yam Kum Weng during his speech at the groundbreaking ceremony.
He added that transfer passengers in T5 can connect to another flight in under an hour, faster than the current transfer times.
There will be a separate train service from Terminal 5 to Terminal 2 via a 2.5km underground link between the terminals, which began construction in 2024.
The roof of T5 will feature overlapping “roof leaves” with varying heights, which will create “a variety of spaces that are more human scale”, said CAG in material provided to the media.
The baggage claim hall will feature “vertical gardens”, while the departure pick-up point will feature a roof that allows natural light to filter through.
“Combined with natural light and landscaping at appropriate spaces, the terminal will have the familiar cosy, yet uplifting feel that Changi is known for,” said CAG.
The Changi East development that T5 is located in will also feature the future Changi East Urban District, which will serve as a “vibrant business and lifestyle destination” and the future Changi East Industrial Zone, said CAG.
The entire Changi East development, which includes T5, is expected to run into “tens of billions”, it was reported in 2018.
The Changi Airport Development Fund will be topped up by S$5 billion to support this.
AIR-SEA LINK, CLIMATE RESILIENCE, HARNESSING TECHNOLOGY
T5’s proximity to Tanah Merah Ferry Terminal also allows for the possibility of facilitating seamless air-sea transfers to neighbouring destinations, said CAG.
One airport that currently has air-sea transfers is Hong Kong International Airport, which has a SkyPier Terminal that facilitates direct flight-to-ferry connections
New roads will also be built to connect T5 to Tanah Merah Coast Road, East Coast Parkway and the Pan Island Expressway.
T5 will also be connected to the rest of Singapore through a ground transportation centre at the terminal where passengers can access train, bus, taxi and other transportation services.
There are plans for the Thomson-East Coast Line and the future Cross Island Line to be connected to T5.
The terminal will also be designed to withstand extreme weather and climate change effects, with an airfield that is 5.5m above sea level, and taxiways that are sloped to allow rainwater to drain off.
The terminal will also be designed to deploy automation at scale, with technology currently being trialled at the existing terminals.
For instance, video analytics and artificial intelligence used to actively track flight activity can predict potential delays for ground handlers to better deploy resources at the terminal.
Baggage robots will also be tested under rain and lightning conditions to enable continuous delivery of baggage for passengers at the terminal.
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