Changi Airport Group: Emergency Landing of Airbus A380

A Qantas Airbus A380 (flight QF32) made an emergency landing at Singapore Changi Airport on 4 November 2010 with a passenger manifest of 433 passengers and 26 crew on board shortly after take off.



Mid way in the air, the pilot noted that an engine problem had occurred and deliberated on landing either on Indonesia or return back to Singapore. The latter decision was undertaken as (per reported in the news), Singapore Changi Airport was "better prepared" to handle and manage such incidences thanks to its heavy investment in airport operations and facilities.

While I won't cover much on the details of the emergency landing (since this is already widely reported in all news media and social media platforms), this goes to show the credibility and confidence proper investment, planning, team selection, as well as on going training can make a difference in one's assessment and even in "final judgment" scenarios (such as this typical emergency landing).

Kudos again, to the team at Singapore Changi Airport and the Changi Airport Group!

Changi Airport Group: Stepped Up Security Checks

Passengers departing from Changi Airport can now expect much more stringent security checks, including body searches, as a request by US authroities following a foiled bomb attack over Detroit on Christmas Day.

Some of these measures include (and not limited to):

a) Passengers to be seated during the final hour of the flight

b) In-flight entertainment system will be shut off at a specific time, including removal of blankets

c) Restriction on the usage of cabin phones

It is understood that different airports across the globe will impose their own respective security measures. On landing in US, they will be expecting "more" security checks in operation.

A background on how this initially evolved:

A 23-year-old Nigerian man was charged with trying to destroy a Detroit-bound Northwest Airlines plane in a Christmas Day attack that brought tightened aviation security and raised fresh concerns about terrorism.

Umar Farouk Abdulmutallab attempted to set off a device containing the explosive pentaerythritol as the aircraft approached the Detroit airport Dec. 25, the U.S. Justice Department said yesterday.

Fortunately, due to the alertness of fellow passengers on board the aircraft, Umar was quickly subdued by force, when they noticed something suspicious was going on.

Stay tuned....

Changi Airport Group: Excellence in Airport Facilities and Services

Just recently, Singapore Changi Airport has received another five awards, including four ‘Best Airport’ titles, in the month of September 2009. These awards were for Changi’s excellence in airport facilities and services. Earlier, Changi Airport has been voted the “Best Airport in the World” by readers of Business Traveller (UK edition), a leading global travel publication. Since it first won the title in 1988, Changi Airport has won the award for 22 consecutive years.

Closer to home, Changi Airport received the same affirmation from readers of Business Traveller’s Asia-Pacific edition, who also chose Changi as the “Best Airport in the World” for the 18th consecutive year. In addition, Changi Airport was named “Best Airport Duty-Free in the World” by the magazine for the 12th year running. In another poll conducted by online travel magazine Smart Travel Asia (www.smarttravelasia.com), Changi Airport was ranked highest in the “Best Airport Worldwide” category out of more than 100 airports. According to Smart Travel Asia, Changi Airport’s shopping facilities, greenery and colour, as well as the addition of Terminal 3 - have made Changi “a formidable competitor”.

Separately, Changi Airport also received the “Best International Airport” accolade from Travel Weekly China, a major travel trade publication in China, as part of its ‘China Travel and Meeting Industry Awards 2009’.

It's worthy to note that since its opening in 1981, Changi Airport has won more than 300 airport awards. The five awards received this month bring to 17 the number of awards received by Changi Airport so far in 2009.

Changi Airport Group: Race of the Lifetime!

It's refreshing, exciting, and absolutely worth watching out for.

What are we talking about?

In case you haven't heard, the 5th of September 2009 will be a battle on the runway (or tarmac) between the world's most loved sports car, Porsche Carrera, versus a Boeing 747, provided by one of Singapore's carrier, Jett8 Airlines.

Two hundred grandstand tickets are up for grabs for fans who wish to hear and experience the race up close on the tarmac of Changi Airport. Members of the public who spend a minimum of $30 in a single receipt in the public areas of Terminals 1, 2 or 3 from 15 August to 23 August 2009 will qualify for a lucky draw to win a pair of tickets. Besides the grandstand tickets, another 500 tickets will be available for an exclusive live screening of the race at the public area of Terminal 3. Ticket holders will also be invited to enjoy the festivities at the airport on the race day.

According to my sources employed with the Changi Airport Group, apart from featuring these 2 reknowned items, other divisions from the airport group could have also been involved to provide greater publicity as well. One suggestion was the involvement of the aviation rescue and fire-fighting unit's Rapid Intervention Vehicles (for those not sure what these vehicles do, they're essential fire-fighting foam tenders capable of near immediate speedups, that is necessary to arrival at a fire scene to extinguish aircraft fires).

Hmm... what be interesting to see these 3 giants involved: a Boeing 747, a Porsche Carrera, and now, an aviation fire-fighting foam tender!

Changi Airport Group - Official Launch

The Civil Aviation Authority of Singapore had been preparing for this day over the last 2 years and one could feel the energy particularly over the last 6 months where almost every divison in the organisation had ben playing their respective parts in the corporatisation efforts.

Apart form ramping up performance standards as well as training on all fronts, the emergency services and security units have also been involved in a great way as well. This included sending officers for relevant skills training to prepare for the corporatised role, as well as other areas of plans updating, logisitical acquisitionand so on.

As of today 1st July 2009, the new Civil Aviation Authority of Singapore as well as the new Changi Airport Group (wholely owned by Temesak Holdings) will commence operations in Singapore's aviation field.

Stay tuned for more developments ahead!

Changi Airport Group: A New Beginning...

First off, let me clarify by saying that this is not the official Changi Airport Group website and neither is it endorsed by the said organisation.

However, this blog was created from an avid aviation enthusiast's perspective, particularly from the field of emergency planning and business continuity. Why these two specific ares you ask? For one obvious reason: an airport community regardless of its infrastructure as well as hardware can never be "perfect" unless there exist some form of planning and response to emergency, crisis as well as disaster scenarios.

With recent occurrences in the aviation community where there have been reports or even "leaks" of potential non-desirable covert events taking place, it is a no brainer issue that airports around the world take a serious view and investment in aviation security as well as emergency response planning.

As this site developes, there will be other issues related to the aviation industry and particularly on Changi covered as well. So stay tuned!

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