Car park at Terminal 1 to make way for Project Jewel

The Straits Times reported that it will soon be a little more inconvenient for drivers to park and get into Changi Airport's Terminal 1 (T1).

From the fourth quarter this year, the 850-lot open-air car park at T1 will be closed to make way for construction of the Project Jewel complex.

The complex, estimated to cost $1.47 billion, will have a total gross floor area of about 134,000 square metres, of which nearly 70 percent will be retail space. It will also have an underground car park with 2,500 lots and a link to all three terminals as well as Changi Airport MRT station when it opens in 2018.

In the interim, drivers heading to T1 will be directed to park at Terminal 2's (T2) Car Park 2B which has 1,100 car park lots. T1's current arrival pick-up point will also be relocated closer to T2.

It is understood that in total, there will be a decrease of about 400 car park lots during this construction period. To free up more lots, Changi Airport Group (CAG) plans to discourage drivers from parking their cars at the airport for extended periods of time - by making it more expensive to do so.

The $20 parking cap for cars parked at all terminals for 24 hours will be removed, resulting in drivers paying close to $60 for full-day parking.

At any one time, 500 to 600 cars have been parked at the airport for more than 24 hours. Their drivers account for only two percent of daily car park users but occupy 20 percent of space, said CAG. CAG added that it will test this arrangement for four days starting from 17^th October and tweak the parking arrangements accordingly before the permanent closure of the open-air T1 car park.