eTN, 1-11-2006
In the first six months since it opened for scheduled flight operations in March 2006, Singapore's Budget Terminal (BT) has seen an impressive 97 per cent increase in flights, 46 per cent increase in passenger numbers, 33 per cent more city links and added a second airline.
The positive outlook of the BT was revealed today by Mr Raymond Lim, Singapore's Minister for Transport and Second Minister for Foreign Affairs, at an event to mark the terminal's official opening. The positive growth of the BT is testimony that the terminal's business model of keeping operational costs low for airlines is bearing fruit. When the BT commenced operations on 26 March 2006, it had one airline - Tiger Airways - operating 124 weekly flights to 12 cities. Tiger Airways has since launched a substantial number of new flights and expanded its network.
Five months later in August, the BT welcomed its second airline, Cebu Pacific, a Philippines-based low cost carrier. Today, the total number of flights at the BT has almost doubled to 244 weekly scheduled flights, of which 222 flights are operated by Tiger Airways and the remaining 22 flights by Cebu Pacific. The BT's city links have increased by 33 per cent to 16 cities namely Bangkok, Chiang Mai, Hat Yai, Krabi, Phuket, Hanoi, Ho Chi Minh City, Cebu, Manila, Clark, Macau, Guangzhou, Haikou, Shenzhen, Darwin and Padang.
