THE Civil Aviation Authority of Singapore (CAAS) has set aside a solid sum of money to fund a number of initiatives announced last Friday that seek to boost Changi Airport’s competitiveness.
Under one initiative, CAAS will absorb S$50 million (US$40.3 million) of air navigation services charges billed to Changi Airport Group (CAG) for financial years 2014/2015 and 2015/2016.
The relief will be passed on to airlines operating at Changi Airport in the form of a 10 per cent rebate on landing charges between September 1, 2014 and March 31, 2016.
The second initiative will see CAAS join hands with the National Trades Union Congress, Singapore Workforce Development Agency, and the Employment and Employability Institute in an MoU to enhance aviation manpower development efforts and set up a one-stop shop to address manpower challenges.
Dnata CEO, Mark Edwards, commented: “This multi-agency collaboration will help ease confusion as we now have a single point of contact who can look into the manpower challenges that we are facing…This programme will have a positive effect in the long run.”
The third initiative is the S$100 million Airport Productivity Package, which comprises two programmes.
The first will see airport stakeholders such as groundhandlers, line maintenance companies and airlines adopt off-the-shelf technology to wean them off relying on manpower and so improve operational efficiency. Companies may also receive funding for pilot trials of new equipment.
The second calls on industry partners, academia and others to develop solutions to two challenges the airport faces: the need to automate baggage loading and unloading for narrow-body aircraft, and the need to automate consolidation of cargo into larger pallets for transport, and the reverse process of dismantling. A call for proposal for the first challenge went out on Friday, with interested parties to submit proposals by December 31, 2014. Submissions will open for the second challenge later this year.
Alex Hungate, president and CEO of SATS, called the Airport Productivity Package “timely” in an environment of continued manpower shortage and rising manpower costs.
CAG had also announced in June that it was rolling out a wide-ranging Growth and Assistance Incentive (GAIN) programme to be implemented over the coming year, committing S$100 million to lowering costs for airlines, boosting passenger traffic and improving operational efficiency at the airport through various initiatives (TTG Asia e-Daily, June 13, 2014).
