WHILE the Airbus A380 superjumbo has grabbed the headlines of late, the spotlight will soon fall on the terminal from which many of these aircraft will take off in the years to come.

And as passengers wait for their flights at Changi Airport's Terminal 3, which opens for operations on Jan 9, they will actually be able to admire the scenery outside - including watching planes land and take off. It's a next-generation airport, worthy of the next-generation aircraft.

Built at a cost of some $1.75 billion, this 380,000 sq metre, seven-storey building - with three basement levels and four above ground - will handle up to 22 million passengers a year, raising Changi's total capacity to 70 million.

Terminal 3's anchor tenant will be Singapore Airlines, which plans to move more than half its operations from T2, where it is currently housed. Four other airlines have so far signed up to join SIA at the new terminal.

The spanking new facility will boast 28 aerobridges, including eight to cater for the Airbus A380. It will also have four extra-long A380 purpose-built belts and 132 check-in counters (compared to 160 in T1 and 144 in T2).

Its 100 shops and more than 40 food and beverage outlets will add to Changi Airport's existing 29,000 sq m of retail and F&B space.

DFS Group, which raked in sales of more than $250 million last year, will be an anchor tenant at T3 - as it is at the other terminals - after clinching the tobacco and liquor retail franchise for the airport for three years.

It sealed the deal by offering the Civil Aviation Authority of Singapore (CAAS) a minimum monthly guarantee of $10.17 million in Year 1, with the amount going up to $10.5 million by the third year.

As Transport Minister Raymond Lim put it, T3 will have that 'wow' factor which will hit visitors the moment they step into its giant lobby.

The size of 63 football fields, the terminal is served by 6.5 km-long elevated tracks via which skytrains will take passengers between the three terminals.

The 1.7 km-long T3 alone will have three of the total seven stations in the network, transporting passengers heading for the furthest gates on both sides of this huge complex.

Visitors and passengers walking into the giant lobby from the land side will be greeted by a five-storey high vertical garden, called the 'Green Wall'. Spanning 300 metres across the main building, and covered with climbing plants and interspersed with four cascading waterfalls, it can be seen from both the Departure and Arrival Halls.

And from above, the entire public area of the complex is illuminated by skylights on the roof, which is equipped with 919 skylight panels which allow natural daylight into the entire building via 'smart' self-adjusting reflectors.

On the air-side, the new T3 has three giant passenger gate-hold areas that can serve up to five flights at the same time, and hold up to 2,000 passengers each.

Terminal 3 also boasts a high-speed inter-terminal baggage transfer system and an automated early bag storage facility.

Baggage of transfer passengers making connections at different terminals will be transported individually through underground tunnels at a remarkable speed of seven metres per second. This means it will take only about three minutes for a bag to be transported through the underground baggage tunnel between Terminals 2 and 3.

Adjacent to the new terminal is a 350-room five-star airport hotel with a swimming pool, restaurants, conference rooms and a spa, among other facilities.

T3 opens amid increasingly intense competition in civil aviation.

As the sixth busiest airport in the Asia-Pacific and the busiest hub airport in the region, Changi's position as a pan-Asian air hub underscores Singapore's strategic purpose to be a leading global financial centre and key economic hub.

Last year, the Singapore airport was ranked 22nd among the world's busiest airports by passenger volume, with a total of 35 million passengers, or an 8 per cent increase over 2005.

Passenger traffic is likely to hit 40 million this year.

The airport has also done well financially.

CAAS, which operates Changi and is also the air transport regulator for Singapore, made a record surplus of $398.3 million for FY05/06 - up 14 per cent from $349.5 million the previous year (FY06/07 numbers will be released soon).

This came on the back of record revenues of $1.4 billion, boosted by robust passenger and aircraft traffic, as well as higher spending in shops and restaurants. CAAS gets 60 per cent of its revenue from commercial, non-aeronautical activities such as shop-floor rental.

But the multiple-award winning airport (it was recently voted the 'Best Airport in the World' for the 20th year in a row by global business travellers) is facing increasing competition and challenges.

Analysts have warned that Changi Airport's traffic growth could plateau as global business attention is diverted from South-east Asia to powerhouses China and India.

And one of its greatest challenges is retaining and attracting talent.

Over the past three years, Changi has lost many experienced staff to upstarts around Asia. While CAAS does not keep tabs on who goes where, anecdotal evidence suggests that India and the Middle East have been the biggest poachers so far, with China not far behind.

To meet some of these challenges, the airport is looking into corporatising some of its operations.

Besides retaining and attracting talent through better remuneration and rewards, such a move is also aimed at enabling the airport operator to respond quickly and nimbly to changing market circumstances.

And with air traffic expected to triple worldwide over the next 20 years, Changi Airport, through its wholly owned unit Changi Airports International (CAI), has been aggressively building a portfolio of assets in key markets like India, China, Russia and the Middle East. Terminal 3 will be the jewel in its crown.

Photo: CAAS