In mid-June this year there was welcome news for transit passengers connecting through Singapore Changi Airport with long transit times between flights, when the Aerotel in Terminal 1 confirmed that it was open and bookable again, providing a reprieve from the transit holding area for some privacy, not to mention a decent sleep and shower before the onward journey.
This morning the Ambassador Transit Hotel in Terminal 3 reopened its doors, providing a potentially more convenient option for those in transit with Singapore Airlines or SilkAir, since both airlines are now operating exclusively from this terminal.
Long connections
Even with progressively increased flight frequencies on many of Singapore Airlines’ key transit routes, there are still some very long connection times involved with certain city pairs on the network, for those returning home or travelling for urgent reasons.
In this example, a journey between Melbourne and London takes a mammoth 39 hours, including a 17 hour 45 minute transit at Changi.
We would definitely want to book a hotel room if travelling on this itinerary – 18 hours in one of the transit holding areas, even the premium section for Business Class passengers, sounds like torture.
With transit origin city approvals now expanded across all of the SIA, SilkAir and Scoot network (with the exception of the Philippines and the USA), long connection times are increasingly an issue on these newly-approved routes too, which are often served less than daily.