In November 2023, Singapore Changi Airport Terminal 2 fully reopened to passengers following a three-year closure for upgrading works, after a partial reopening in October 2022 that has seen airlines trickle back to the facility as renovated sections have been progressively completed.

More carriers have made the switch to T2 this year, including new operators like Air Canada, and now there’s news of the latest airline operating from the terminal.

Vistara now uses Terminal 2

Effective from 2nd July 2024, Singapore Airlines subsidiary Vistara now operates to and from Terminal 2 at Changi Airport, instead of Terminal 3.

Check-in is at Row 12, adjacent to the last departure drop off entrance – Door 8.

Check-in desks still operate between 3 hours and 60 mins before departure, as they did before. Do note that unlike for Singapore Airlines flights there is no option to check in at Terminal 3 for a Vistara flight, nor does the carrier participate in any early check-in options.

Vistara has become the 19th airline to operate from Changi Airport Terminal 2 since its post-COVID reopening, with Starlux set to become the 20th carrier there, from 1st August 2024.

Vistara is now co-located with Air India

While Vistara was always a Terminal 3 airline at Changi even prior to the pandemic, this move to Terminal 2 will co-locate the carrier with Air India.

That comes ahead of a merger between the two carriers that should complete this year, with operational unification between the two airlines under the Air India brand expected by mid-2025.

Singapore Airlines will have a 25% stake in the newly formed airline, which should boast close to 100 weekly departures from Changi Terminal 2.

Air India currently uses check-in row 10 at Changi T2, but unlike Vistara it does offer an early check-in option at Jewel between 12pm and 4pm each day, for those checking in at least 3 hours prior to departure time.

Hopefully this option will be retained following the Air India-Vistara merger.

Vistara’s Singapore schedule

Vistara currently operates 27 weekly flights to and from Singapore, linking Delhi (DEL), Mumbai (BOM) and Pune (PNQ), as outlined below.

Vistara
Singapore India

			Days
			M	T	W	T	F	S	S
	UK116 A321neo
SIN 09:30		BOM 13:00
	UK106 A321neo
SIN 10:30		BOM 13:40
	UK110 A321neo
SIN 11:55		PNQ 15:10
	UK108 A321neo
SIN 21:20		DEL 00:40*

* Next day

Vistara
India Singapore

			Days
			M	T	W	T	F	S	S
	UK105 A321neo
BOM 00:55		SIN 09:15
	UK111 A321neo
PNQ 02:10		SIN 10:40
	UK107 A321neo
BOM 12:10		SIN 20:20
	UK115 A321neo
DEL 23:45		SIN 08:15*

* Next day

All services use the carrier’s Airbus A321neo aircraft, including 12 flat-bed seats in Business Class.

Which lounge?

Despite being 49% owned by Singapore Airlines, Vistara does not offer SilverKris lounge access prior to departure for its Business Class passengers, or those holding Club Vistara Gold or Platinum status.

Worse still, in July 2022 Singapore Airlines quietly axed lounge access for KrisFlyer Elite Gold and PPS Club members when departing on Vistara flights.

Additionally, since Vistara is not part of the Star Alliance, Star Alliance Gold status won’t get you past the threshold at the KrisFlyer Elite Gold lounge either.

Instead, Vistara uses the SATS Premier Lounge in T2 for its lounge-eligible passengers prior to departure, having shifted its arrangement from the SATS T3 facility as part of this terminal move.

We find this to be a decent but relatively average third-party facility at Changi. The lounge is also available on Priority Pass, LoungeKey and DragonPass, in addition to offering a paid entry option via pre-booking.

For those using Priority Pass or similar lounge access programme before departure, the selection in Terminal 2 is a little more sad and tired that that in Terminal 3 (including the SATS Premier Lounge, in our opinion).

On the flip side, there is a wider range of non-lounge food and spa redemption options using your Priority Pass in T2, as we recently covered in detail, including a fixed S$33.50 off your F&B bill at Asian Street Kitchen.

Lounge situation post-merger

Thankfully the lounge situation will change next year, when Vistara is merged into Air India, since its flights will become Star Alliance services in the process, and the SilverKris lounges will become the go-to option for lounge-eligible departing passengers.

That’s not by default though – Air India also uses the SATS Premier Lounge in T2, though ‘in the know’ passengers usually head for the KrisFlyer and SilverKris lounges, per eligibility criteria:

• Business Class passengers can access the Singapore Airlines SilverKris Business Class lounge
• KrisFlyer Elite Gold passengers can access the Singapore Airlines KrisFlyer Gold lounge (+1 guest travelling on the same flight)

What Air India passengers also sometimes do is hop across to SIA’s latest lounge facilities in Terminal 3, though this involves a SkyTrain ride after clearing immigration.

That’s good news for Vistara passengers, who will be able to take advantage of these better lounge options from sometime next year.

Full list of T2 airlines

Here’s the full list of airlines operating from Changi Airport Terminal 2, in order of commencing operations at the reopened terminal following its two-year closure.

All Changi Airport T2 Airlines
(as of 7 July 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	550
	Air India (AI)	18 October 2022	38
	Air India Express (IX)		28
	Royal Brunei Airlines (BI)	6 February 2023	10
	Lufthansa (LH)	9 February 2023	14
	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)		7
	Malaysia Airlines (MH)	23 May 2023	68
	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
	Air Canada (AC)	4 April 2024	4
	AirJapan (NQ)	26 April 2024	5
	Vistara (UK)	2 July 2024	27
	Starlux (JX)	From 1 August 2024	7

* Post T2’s COVID closure

This follows a transfer of Singapore Airlines’ Japan and South Korea flights to T2, joining other South East Asian destinations, and most recently this year the addition of Air Canada and AirJapan to T2’s roster.

As we recently reported, Taiwan’s Starlux will also move to T2 from 1st August 2024.

In total, Terminal 2 will handle 894 departing passenger flights per week (an average 128 per day), based on August 2024 flight schedules, its busiest since post-pandemic reopening.

Our analysis shows that prior to COVID-19, T2 was handling around 920 departing passenger flights per week, operated by 15 airlines, so this latest increase brings the facility practically back to its December 2019 levels in terms of flight volumes.

Following its 2023 reopening, Terminal 2 has a capacity for 28 million passengers per year, a 22% increase on its 2020 limit of 23 million passengers, so we can potentially expect even more flights and airlines to join its roster in the months and years ahead.

SIA subsidiary Vistara moved its Singapore flights across from Terminal 3 to Terminal 2 earlier this week, becoming the 19th carrier to operate from the reopened and recently remodelled facility.

This sensibly co-locates the carrier with Air India, its future merger partner, with Vistara set to be fully amalgamated into Air India sometime next year.

Unfortunately the lounge situation remains at the rather average SATS facility in T2 for the time being, though the merger itself will change that situation from 2025, eventually opening up the KrisFlyer Elite Gold and SilverKris lounges as options for eligible passengers.

(Cover Photo: Markus Mainka / Shutterstock)