Singapore Airlines moving Japan and South Korea flights to Changi Terminal 2

Terminal 2 at Singapore Changi Airport fully reopened last year, following a prolonged closure during the COVID-19 pandemic, during which a renovation programme was accelerated, meaning the facility now boasts a brand new look.

A total of 16 airlines now use T2, including Singapore Airlines, with the carrier using the facility to process departures to selected countries, in addition to a wider mix of arriving flights.

While there are no new airlines joining the T2 list so far this year, a swathe of additional Singapore Airlines flights will soon be departing from the terminal.

Japan and South Korea departures moving to T2

From 31st January 2024, Singapore Airlines flights bound for seven destinations in Japan and South Korea will be shifted across from Terminal 3 to Terminal 2, representing a total of 91 departures per week.

• Busan (4/wk)
• Fukuoka (5/wk)
• Nagoya (5/wk)
• Osaka (21/wk)
• Seoul (28/wk)
• Tokyo Haneda (21/wk)
• Tokyo Narita, except SQ12 (7/wk)

Fukuoka and Nagoya flights are increasing to daily (7/wk) from 1st March 2024.

SIA’s upcoming seasonal non-stop Sapporo flights in December 2024 and January 2025 will also operate from Terminal 2.

All Singapore Airlines (SIA) flights to Japan and South Korea, with exception of SQ12, will operate out of Singapore Changi Airport Terminal 2 from Wednesday, 31 January 2024, 0800hrs (Singapore time).

Customers on these flights should check in at Terminal 2.

Singapore Airlines

Prior to COVID-19, these services operated from Terminal 3, as did Nepal flights, which also recently moved from T3 to T2.

Do note that a small number of departures to some of these cities in the early hours of 31st January 2024 will still operate from Terminal 3:

• 00:10 – SQ608 to Seoul
• 01:20 – SQ672 to Nagoya
• 01:30 – SQ618 to Osaka
• 02:30 – SQ612 to Seoul

All subsequent flights on 31st January 2024 to Seoul, Nagoya and Osaka after these four will depart from Terminal 2.

All departures to Busan, Fukuoka, Tokyo Haneda and Tokyo Narita (except SQ12) will depart from Terminal 2 from 31st January 2024 onwards.

SIA will presumably expand the operating hours of its check-in desks at Changi Terminal 2 to accommodate these new departures.

Currently the T2 opening times are 4am to 10pm daily, but many of these Japan and South Korea flights depart between midnight at 2.30am each day, so the desks will have to open later each day.

The expansion of routes at T2 comes after the airline already exceeded its pre-COVID route list there from mid-October 2023, when services to Male and Kathmandu were moved across from T3.

That expansion of T2 operations for the carrier also came just a week after All Nippon Airways, Etihad and IndiGo returned to the facility, while new operator TransNusa has also joined the terminal’s departure board in recent weeks.

SQ12 to Tokyo and Los Angeles remains at T3

One exception to the Terminal 2 departure list by country, even after 31st January 2024, will be passengers heading to Japan’s Tokyo Narita Airport on SQ12 each day at 9.20am.

This Boeing 777-300ER service actually operates to Los Angeles, with a stop in Tokyo en-route, and since its final destination in the USA, it will continue to operate from Terminal 3.

SIA T2 destinations

Here’s a summary of which SIA flights depart from which terminal at Changi Airport, from 31st January 2024.

SIA Departures from Changi Airport
Terminal 2	Terminal 3
Bangladesh Brunei  Cambodia  Indonesia Japan (except SQ12) from 31 Jan 2024 Malaysia Maldives Myanmar Nepal Philippines South Korea from 31 Jan 2024 Sri Lanka Thailand Vietnam	Japan (SQ12 to Tokyo Narita only) All other destinations including Australia, Europe, India, China and the USA

From February 2024, 526 Singapore Airlines departures per week to 28 destinations will use Terminal 2, while 558 departures to the remaining 48 destinations on the network will use Terminal 3.

That means almost half of the carrier’s flights (48.5%) will be processed through T2 from February, close to pre-COVID levels for SIA and SilkAir combined (51.3%).

SIA flights can arrive at T1, T2 or T3

It’s important to remember that Singapore Airlines still uses all three of Changi Airport’s main terminals to process arriving flights and passengers, regardless of their origin country, for operational reasons which may include the aircraft’s planned subsequent destination.

For example, a flight from Sydney, Adelaide or Beijing might arrive into T2, usually because the same aircraft will be used to fly to a T2 destination on its next service.

A flight from Bali or Jakarta, on the other hand, could arrive in T1 or T3 for the same reason.

Arrival terminal information is usually available via SIA’s flight status update within around 6 hours of the scheduled arrival time, but do remember to subscribe to the particular flight of interest, since its arrival terminal can also change in the meantime.

You can also check arrival terminal information via the Changi app or the Changi Airport website.

T3 crowding should improve

As most of our readers know, Changi Airport Terminal 3 (and Terminal 1 for that matter) have been suffering from high levels of crowding during peak hours.

We recently revealed that this has been causing 1 in 8 of Singapore Airlines’ Terminal 3 flights to actually depart from a Terminal 1 gate, particularly during the morning (7am to 12pm) and evening (7pm to 2.30am) peak periods.

Thankfully these 91 times weekly SIA flights to Japan and South Korea will help take the pressure off T3 when they relocate to T2 at the end of this month, with over half of them having departure timings falling in the evening peak period, and a further 23% in the morning peak period.

This should hopefully reduce T1 gate usage for SIA passengers departing on T3 flights, which can involve a very long walk from the SilverKris lounges, especially when the likes of C25 and C26 are used.

Terminal 2 is now Changi’s largest

Following its recent renovation and expansion, Changi Airport Terminal 2 is now the largest of the four terminals at the airport, stealing T1’s thunder with a capacity for 28 million passengers per year – 5 million more than pre-renovation.

Passenger Capacity of Changi’s Terminals (2020 – 2024)
Terminal	Capacity 2020	Capacity 2024
T1	24m	24m
T2	23m	28m
T3	22m	22m
T4	16m	16m
Total	85m	90m

A significant 15,500 square metres has been added to the terminal’s original floor space, boosting Changi’s annual capacity to 90 million travellers.

This will secure the airport’s passenger operations through to the opening of Terminal 5, in the mid-2030s.

Changi Airport had 5.12 million passengers in October 2023, 91% of the pre-COVID level of 5.65 million, seen in October 2019, so it won’t be long before full recovery and continued expansion beyond pre-pandemic levels is inevitably in store.

You can still check-in at T3 if you wish

Even if your Singapore Airlines flight is departing from T2, like these Japan and South Korea services from late January, you can still check-in at T3 if you wish, a tactic many of our readers use for easier access to T3’s superior lounges.

You can then take the SkyTrain to T2 when it comes time to board.

This will be particularly important for those departing in Suites on SQ638 to Tokyo Narita (until 30th March 2024, after which the cabin disappears from the route) and in First Class on SQ636 to Tokyo Haneda.

These passengers are entitled to visit The Private Room at Changi Airport Terminal 3 prior to departure, a significantly better experience than the Terminal 2 SilverKris First Class lounge.

Singapore Airlines has confirmed to Mainly Miles that while it of course prefers passengers to check-in and use the lounge in their departing terminal, it is possible to check in and proceed through immigration in T3, even for a T2 departure, saving additional time if this is your lounge use strategy.

“While we encourage customers whose flights are departing from Terminal 2 to check in at the same terminal, they may opt to check in at Terminal 3 as well.

“Eligible customers who wish to use the lounge before their flight may visit the SilverKris Lounge at Terminal 2, or the SilverKris and KrisFlyer Gold lounges at Terminal 3.

“Customers may take the complimentary Changi Airport Skytrain inside the transit area to travel between Terminals 2 and 3. The Changi Airport Skytrain operates daily from 0430hrs to 0130hrs.

“Customers should provision ample time to travel between Terminals 2 and 3, so as to ensure they get to their boarding gate on time.”

SIA spokesperson

Those departing on SQ612 to Seoul at 2.30am will have to be particularly careful if they use the T3 lounges.

The T3 > T2 SkyTrain stops running at 1.30am, so it’s a good idea to head to the gate (or move to the T2 lounges) well before then, otherwise it’s a very long walk, via T1.

We have recent reviews of the refreshed T2 KrisFlyer Gold and SilverKris Business Class lounges since they reopened back in October 2022, with some minor enhancements but more or less with the same dated format they had pre-pandemic.

Other T2 airlines

There are currently a total of 16 airlines operating from Changi Airport Terminal 2, as outlined in the following table, listed in order of commencing operations at the reopened terminal following its two-year closure.

All Changi Airport T2 Airlines
(from 31 January 2024)

Airline		Started T2 Operations*	Weekly Departures
	Singapore Airlines (SQ) Only South East Asia, Bangladesh, Japan (except SQ12 to Tokyo Narita), Maldives, Nepal, South Korea and Sri Lanka departures	13 October 2022	526
	Air India (AI)	18 October 2022	38
	Air India Express (IX)		28
	Royal Brunei Airlines (BI)	6 February 2023	8
	Lufthansa (LH)	9 February 2023	13
	Swiss International Air Lines (LX)		7
	Sichuan Airlines (3U)	17 February 2023	7
	Air Macau (NX)	23 March 2023	7
	Ethiopian Airlines (ET)	26 March 2023	8
	Firefly (FY)		14
	Malaysia Airlines (MH)	23 May 2023	63
	United Airlines (UA)	20 July 2023	14
	All Nippon Airways (NH)	5 October 2023	21
	Etihad Airways (EY)		7
	IndiGo (6E)		58
	TransNusa (8B)	20 November 2023	7

* Post T2’s COVID closure

In total, T2 will handle 826 passenger flight departures per week (an average 118 per day), based on February 2024 flight schedules.

From 31st January 2024, SIA flights heading to Japan and South Korea will depart from Changi Airport Terminal 2, instead of Terminal 3.

The only exception is SQ12 to Los Angeles via Tokyo Narita, which will remain in its T3 home, owing to its final destination country.

The news mean the airline’s list of T2 destinations now significantly exceeds pre-pandemic norms – with Japan, Nepal and South Korea all recent or upcoming new SIA destinations at the terminal, in addition to the regular full list of countries we already saw operating from there in 2019.

For those who prefer the newer T3 lounge facilities, there’s still the option to check-in over there and simply head to your T2 gate via the SkyTrain when it comes time to board, but do be careful to note that the service stops running at 1.30am.

(Cover Photo: Ore Huiying)