CHANGI Airport has put its weight behind a global airports group opposing a World Health Organisation (WHO) proposal to ban the sale of duty-free tobacco products on airport premises.

The Airports Council International (ACI), which groups 1,679 airports worldwide, including Changi, maintains that this move will hurt airport earnings, as well as penalise the travelling public.

The issue surfaced at the group's annual meeting recently, in response to suggestions made by the WHO that such a ban would stem the illegal trade in tobacco products.

Member airports agree that they will not stand for such a ban and will work with their respective governments to protect the interests of passengers and the rights of airports and retailers.

This was one of several resolutions approved at the end of the ACI's two-day gathering in Kuala Lumpur last week.

A spokesman for Changi Airport Group told The Straits Times that given the strict operating environment in which duty-free tobacco products are sold in Singapore, it cannot be considered as part of illicit trading.

Read the full story in Tuesday's edition of The Straits Times.