In today's challenging and rapidly-changing aviation landscape, Singapore Changi Airport continues to perform strongly. This achievement is possible, largely due to the contribution made by airlines operating at Changi Airport. To celebrate the strong and dynamic partnership between the Civil Aviation Authority of Singapore (CAAS) and its airlines partners, CAAS held the second 'Changi Airline Awards' on April 26 to recognise airlines' contribution to Changi Airport's growth and to honour, in particular, top performing airlines.

The ceremony was graced by Guest-of-Honour, Mr Raymond Lim, Singapore's Minister for Transport and Second Minister for Foreign Affairs. Twenty-one airlines received the Changi Airline Award under four different categories.

The winners for the first two categories were derived based on airlines' total passenger and cargo traffic through Changi Airport in 2006. The awards for 'Top 10 Airlines by Passenger Carriage' went to Cathay Pacific Airways, Emirates, Garuda Indonesia, Jetstar Asia Airways, Malaysia Airlines, Qantas Airways, SilkAir, Singapore Airlines, Thai Airways and Tiger Airways (in alphabetical order). Airlines rated 'Top 10 Airlines by Cargo Carriage' were Cathay Pacific Airways, China Airlines, Emirates, EVA Airways, Federal Express, Japan Airlines, Korean Air, Qantas Airways, Singapore Airlines Cargo and Thai Airways.

The other two categories honoured a total of 10 airlines that grew their operations at Changi Airport in the year 2006 as compared to 2005. Airlines acknowledged for their strong growth in the category 'Top 5 Airlines by Growth in Passenger Carriage' were Air Seychelles, Jetstar Asia Airways, Qatar Airways, Tiger Airways and Transaero Airlines while Air Niugini, Asiana Airlines, Qatar Airways, SilkAir and SriLankan Airlines were bestowed with accolades of 'Top 5 Airlines by Growth in Cargo Carriage'.

Speaking at the awards ceremony, Minister Lim touched on the numerous initiatives that CAAS had undertaken to ensure that Changi Airport continues to remain competitive. Minister Lim said "Today, many airlines are enjoying incentives for their traffic growth at Changi Airport under the Air Hub Development Fund 2. CAAS regularly reviews these incentives to ensure that they remain effective in strengthening Changi Airport's attractiveness as a premier hub in the region. I am pleased to announce that some of these incentives have recently been enhanced. For example, airlines will enjoy more attractive incentives if they mount new scheduled services to unserved points or under-served points from Changi."

CAAS also presented a Special Appreciation Award to the Board of Airline Representatives (BAR) and the Airline Operators Committee (AOC). The BAR is an industry association representing the commercial interests of airlines operating to and from Singapore, while the AOC represents airlines in operational matters at Changi Airport. Working together with these organisations, airlines at Changi Airport have been able to cope with and quickly recover from the various challenges faced by the aviation industry in the recent years.

In 2006, Changi Airport handled a record 35 million passengers and 1.91 million tonnes of cargo. As at 1 April 2007, Changi Airport serves 83 scheduled airlines which operate about 4,200 weekly scheduled flights to over 185 cities in 59 countries.