The Best Airport in the World Just Got Better
A first look inside Singapore airport's new Terminal 4.
From the robot cleaners stalking the hallways to the automated check-in enhanced by facial recognition software, the fourth terminal at Singapore's Changi Airport — already considered the world's best flight hub — is designed to give travelers a glimpse into a more efficient jetsetting future.
Changi is one of Asia's busiest airports, handling a record 58.7 million passengers in 2016. But as the region gets richer, demand for air travel is taking off. When it opens later this year, T4 will have the capacity to add another 16 million travelers to that total.
But the terminal will hold more than just people. The size of 27 football fields, T4 will feature art installations, immersive LED displays, greenery and natural light. Join us for a tour of an air travel pioneer.
An automated robotic cleaner travels along the T4 departure hall.
Photographer: Nicky Loh/Bloomberg
Automated check-in counters at the departure hall use facial recognition technology to perform identity checks on passengers.
Photographer: Nicky Loh/Bloomberg
The Immersive Wall is a 70-meter by 5-meter LED panel designed to entertain travelers while they wait at T4's security check point.
Photographer: Nicky Loh/Bloomberg
Mock-ups of traditional Singaporean Peranakan houses line the airport's Heritage Zone.
Photographer: Nicky Loh/Bloomberg
"Petalclouds" is a kinetic installation that moves in time with Icelandic music and animated lighting. It's displayed in the 200-meter-long Central Galleria area.
Photographer: Nicky Loh/Bloomberg
An employee demonstrates automated immigration clearance.
Photographer: Nicky Loh/Bloomberg
"The Travelling Family", an aluminum sculpture by Swiss artist Kurt Metzler, is displayed at the departure transit area.
Photographer: Nicky Loh/Bloomberg
Even the toilets in the Heritage Zone have a traditional Singaporean Peranakan theme.
Photographer: Nicky Loh/Bloomberg
An art piece titled "Les Oiseaux (The Birds)" — a stainless steel piece described as a symbol of "the connection between sky and earth, between dream and reality" — is displayed in the arrival hall area.
Photographer: Nicky Loh/Bloomberg
Waiting for departure under the "Petalclouds" installation.
Photographer: Nicky Loh/Bloomberg
The baggage collection area at T4.
Photographer: Nicky Loh/Bloomberg
A cleaner — a human one — at work in the T4 departure hall.
Photographer: Nicky Loh/Bloomberg
A worker touches up the T4 signage greenery, just one of the ways the airport design tries to incorporate nature.
Photographer: Nicky Loh/Bloomberg
-Source: https://www.bloomberg.com/news/photo-essays/2017-07-26/the-best-airport-in-the-world-just-got-better