Singapore Changi Airport's passenger throughput fall amid political tension

Singapore's Changi Airport, the regional air hub and one of the world's busiest airports, handled 4.49 million passengers in March, down 2.5 percent on year, according to the airport data on Thursday. The lower passenger throughput was mainly due to a reduction in long-haul capacity, especially to the United States, as well as political tension in Thailand. Thailand traffic decreased for the fifth consecutive month, with traffic to and from Bangkok declining by 29 percent on year in March. Meanwhile, there were 29,100 landings and take-offs at Changi Airport in March, 2.5 percent higher than the same month last year. During the first three months this year, there were totally 13. 2 million passengers travelled through the airport, up 1.1 percent on year. The total flight movements also grew 4.5 percent on year to 86,300 during the first quarter. The volume of cargo shipments processed slipped 1.3 percent to 169,800 tonnes. Cargo shipments were stable at 446,900 tonnes for the first three months this year. As of April 1, more than 100 airlines operate at Changi Airport, connecting Singapore to 280 cities in some 60 countries and territories worldwide. With more than 6,800 weekly scheduled flights, an aircraft takes off or lands at Changi roughly once every 90 seconds.