Last month Changi followed many major airports around the world by consolidating its terminal capacity in light of decimated passenger demand due to the global coronavirus pandemic, shuttering Terminal 2 from May 2020 for 18 months.
At the time the Changi Airport Group was already priming us for the next likely step in this regard – the temporary suspension of operations at Terminal 4.
“In view of the very small number of flights at Terminal 4 (T4), operations at the terminal have been scaled down considerably with a small number of aircraft boarding gates kept in use and shops allowed to close early after the last flight for the day. If the remaining airlines at T4 choose to suspend or adjust their flight schedule, CAG will also consider suspending operations at T4 temporarily but with the objective of restarting operations quickly when airlines confirm the resumption of flights.”
Changi Airport Group, 6th April 2020
Terminal 4 will close
This morning the airport confirmed in a media release that Terminal 4 will be temporarily closing from 16th May 2020, with existing airlines moving to Terminals 1 and 3, set to become the only two operational facilities at the airport from this weekend.
This unsurprising move will of course further help CAG reduce operating costs, including cleaning and utilities.
“From 16 May 2020, Terminal 4 (T4) operations will be temporarily suspended in view of the small number of flights still operating in the terminal. Airlines currently based in T4 will operate out of Terminals 1 (T1) or 3 (T3) instead. With this, the stores and restaurants in T4 will close and the shuttle bus service connecting to T3 will be suspended until operations in T4 resume. The timing of this will depend on when air travel demand picks up and on the requirements of airlines seeking to relaunch flights at Changi Airport.”
Changi Airport Group, 12th May 2020
The final Cathay Pacific passenger departure to be processed through Terminal 4 was CX636 on 9th April 2020, before the carrier moved to Terminal 1.
Two subsequent CX636 services on 10th April and 12th April carried cargo only, and were processed at the East Cargo area, the opposite side of the airport from T4.
There were then two further Air Asia X services to Kuala Lumpur, on 10th April and 11th April respectively, with the final passenger departure to be processed through Terminal 4 being a one-off VietJet flight to Ho Chi Minh nearly two weeks later on 24th April 2020.
Edit: Korean Air has been operating a weekly passenger service from Terminal 4 in the early hours of each Friday morning, and is set to operate the final passenger departure from the terminal at 01:10 on Friday 15th May 2020 using a Boeing 777-300ER. Thanks to David for highlighting this.
Heres a list of T4’s usual operators and what’s currently happening with their flights:
| Airline | Old | New | Flights | |
 |
AirAsia (AK, FD, QZ, Z2) |
 |
 |
Ceased 19 Mar |
|
AirAsia X (D7) |
|
|
Ceased 13 Apr |
 |
Air India (AI) |
|
|
Ceased 21 Mar |
|
Air India Express (IX) |
|
TBC | Ceased 22 Mar |
 |
Cathay Pacific (CX) |
|
|
Moved 10 Apr |
 |
Cebu Pacific (5J) |
|
|
Ceased 18 Mar |
 |
GX Airlines (GX) |
|
|
Ceased 1 Feb |
 |
Hainan Airlines (HU) |
|
|
Ceased 31 Jan |
 |
Indigo (6E) |
|
TBC | Ceased 21 Mar |
 |
Jeju Air (7C) |
|
|
Ceased 1 Mar |
 |
Juneyao Airlines (HO) |
|
|
Ceased 1 Apr |
 |
Korean Air (KE) |
|
|
Moving 16 May |
 |
Regent Airways (RX) |
|
|
Ceased 20 Mar |
 |
Spring Airlines (9C) |
|
|
Ceased 31 Jan |
 |
VietJet (VJ) |
|
|
Ceased 16 Mar* |
 |
Vietnam Airlines (VN) |
|
 |
Ceased 22 Mar |
* A one-off repatriation flight departed from T4 on 24th April.
Note: Go Air stopped operating at Changi on 8th February 2020. This was unrelated to COVID-19.
Korean Air will be moving to Terminal 1 to join Cathay Pacific, though the airline has only been a single weekly departure from Terminal 4 each Friday, with cargo-only flights for the rest of the week at Changi. These cargo services have been handled at the East Cargo Apron, with the crew processed through Terminal 3.
Most other airlines are also moving to T1, with only Vietnam Airlines moving to T3, though none of these carriers are currently operating any passenger services at Changi.
For a handful of airlines, future operating terminals will be announced as they re-start services.
“The assigned terminal for other airlines will be announced when they next operate flights at Changi.” Changi Airport Group
Summary
With the exception of a one-off flight on 24th April, Changi Airport has effectively already been operating as a two terminal facility for around a month now, so this official closure of Terminal 4 comes as little surprise.
With air travel demand still at record lows due to COVID-19, it’s not clear when T4 will be needed again though it could easily be several months before its usual tenants are operating any significant schedule.
In April 2020, Changi Airport handled 25,200 passenger movements and 3,870 aircraft movements, a record low since commencing operations in 1981.
(Cover Photo: Shutterstock)
Most T4 airlines is planned to move to T1 except Vietnam Airlines which will be moved back to T3.
https://www.changiairport.com/corporate/media-centre/newsroom/consolidation-of-terminal-operations.html#?tid=relocation
There was a KE646 SIN-ICN on 8 May which was tracked to be departing from T4 gate G18 on Changi Airport departure board and from the FR24 also appear to depart from T4.
Thanks those destination terminals are now updated in the table 👍🏼
Thanks for the heads up on those Friday KE flights. You’re right they have been departing from T4. Last one should be 01:10 this coming Friday morning (B77W). I had looked through the other KE departures through the week and they were all cargo, but I missed this one!