Changi International forges ahead with unmanned airport

Human-less interaction in airports is closer than any of us anticipated, and is being experimented with at world-class Changi Airport in Singapore. Voted the world’s number one airport for six years in a row, Changi is also Asia’s second busiest international airport, and has developed sophisticated systems to test airport bots. The concept was developed to streamline the traffic through airports and save on labour costs.

Terminal 4, which opened last October, is pursuing the goal of full automation. Essentially, it begins in the air, when a plane is ready to land – technology will bypass the control tower then identify and monitor the smooth landing.

When it arrives at the gate, a laser-guided aerobridge will connect with the plane to allow passengers to disembark. Bags will be offloaded with robots and then driven to terminals via automated vehicles.

Passengers will head straight through to immigration, where facial scanning and fingerprints will verify them. Once they have retrieved their baggage from the carousel, they will interact with the first human, which is a customs official, before leaving to catch a driverless taxi outside.

The airport bots are in the testing and developing phase at Terminal 4, in preparation for the forthcoming Terminal 5, which is expected to be “unsurpassed in size and complexity”. This terminal is scheduled to open before 2030 and will be the most automated and largest passenger terminal the world over.

Terminal 5 will cost billions of dollars to build – but it is considered an investment in the country’s future. Singapore has always embraced change and welcomed technological advancements.