Singapore Changi Airport is commencing the development of Jewel Changi Airport (Jewel) – a mixed-use complex featuring unique leisure attractions, a wide range of retail offerings and aviation and travel-related facilities. Jewel Changi Airport Trustee Pte Ltd (JCAT) , a joint venture between Changi Airport Group (CAG)and CapitaMalls Asia, broke ground for the construction of Jewel that will be developed in front of Terminal 1 (T1).
The project is expected to be completed by end 2018, is envisaged to be a world-class, signature lifestyle destination that will enable Changi Airport to capture tourism mindshare and strongly boost Singapore’s appeal as a stopover point, and a destination in itself, for all passengers including those from India.
Singapore is the second most visited international city among Indian travellers, with close to 3.4 million passengers passing through the doors of Changi Airport in the 12-month period ending September 2014, an increase of 7.5% from a year ago. This is supported by Changi’s connectivity to as many as 12 Indian cities, served by eight airlines providing more than 380 flights between Singapore and India every week.
The facility will have an integrated multi-modal transport lounge offering dedicated services for fly-cruise and fly-coach passengers. It will offer its own hotel with 130 rooms. One of Jewel’s centerpiece attraction is a huge five-storey indoor garden Forest Valley filled with thousands of trees, plants, ferns and shrubs and a breathtaking 40-metre high Rain Vortex – expected to be the world’s tallest indoor waterfall. Located at the central core of the complex, this majestic spectacle will captivate Indian visitors with its magnificent water display. Come night fall, the Rain Vortexwill transform into an enchanting Light and Sound show with special lighting effects.
With 22,000sqm of space dedicated for landscaping, Jewel will become one of the largest indoor collections of plants in Singapore. Besides being in line with Singapore’s reputation as a garden city, the indoor garden will also help Indian travellers to feel refreshed and re-energized after long-haul flights.
Jewel will also feature walking trails and fun play facilities, designed to be a wonderland for both the young and old. In the surrounding area, there will be food and beverage outlets where passengers and visitors will be able to enjoy al fresco-like dining while admiring views of the Forest Valley, in cool comfort throughout the day.
Within Jewel, there will be a wide range of retail offerings which will appeal to Indian travellers and shopaholics from around the world. The retail mix is envisaged to include exciting new concepts, topinternational brands, as well as Singapore-based names.The integration of world-class retail brands and unique dining concepts with indoor gardens and leisure attractions will provide visitors with amyriad of experiences all under one roof – making Jewel a one-of-a-kind lifestyle destination.
“An important hallmark of Changi Airport’s growth over the past thirty-odd years has been continual change and innovation. In charting the airport’s future, this spirit continues to underpin our strategy. Faced with intensifying competition, we challenged ourselves to rethink what an airport can be – not just as a gateway for flights, but as a tourism destination on its own,” Lee Seow Hiang, CAG’s Chief Executive Officer and Chairman of Jewel Changi Airport Devt Pte. Ltd (JCAD), said.
