Singapore to shut down Changi Airport T2 for 18 months

Singapore has announced that it will shut down terminal operations at the Changi Airport from May 1. As per the news reports, operations of the airport's Terminal 2 will remain suspended for 18 months. This move comes in the wake of the recent crisis due to the spread of COVID-19 and sharp decline in passenger traffic.

Referring to this move of halting operations at Terminal 2, Transport Minister Khaw Boon Wan stated that they will make efforts to save on running costs for the airport operators, retail tenants, airlines and ground handlers. He added that as of now, one terminal is enough to manage the current traffic situation at the airport.He also stated that although full recovery might not happen this year, there is a probability that the situation will partially improve next year. This means that they need to be ready to lead and to ride the recovery when it happens.
Reportedly, after the suspension of the operations at Terminal 2, airlines will now be reallocated in the remaining terminals, and Singapore Airlines will be running operations from Terminal 3 for the time being.

As per a spokesperson, suspending operations will enable the Changi Airport Group and its airport partners to speed up the on-going construction work, save on running costs, such as utilities and cleaning, apart from optimizing resources across terminals of the airport.
The said move of suspending operations of a terminal comes as a little surprise with a majority of flights being suspended to and from Singapore due to COVID-19 outbreak.