The World’s Airports Are Catching Covid, Too

In surveys of the world’s best airports, Singapore’s Changi regularly ranks near the top. A leader among utilitarian transportation hubs that have been transformed into upscale shopping destinations, Changi Airport in 2019 added Jewel, a futuristic play land with 1.5 million square feet of stores and attractions including a rainforest, hedge maze, and the world’s highest indoor waterfall. And the government had planned this year to begin selecting contractors to work on a huge fifth terminal to boost annual capacity 55%, to 140 million passengers.

Then came Covid-19. Traffic at the airport—long a preferred hub for globe-girdling business travelers—fell more than 99% in April, May, and June vs. a year earlier. Changi is hunkering down, mothballing two of its four terminals and delaying plans to build the additional one.