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AVIATION VETERANS: Mr Sim (above) helms the advisory group, which includes Mr Wong.
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AS THE dogfight for premier air hub status intensifies, Changi Airport, which has lost some key staff to rivals, aims to more than make up for the brain drain by tapping on 'heavyweight' expertise.
A new four-member committee - the Changi Airport Advisory Group - has been set up, with aviation veteran Sim Kee Boon at the helm.
Mr Sim, adviser to the Civil Aviation Authority of Singapore (CAAS), was permanent secretary of the then Ministry of Communications, which was tasked to build Changi Airport in the 1980s.
With him in the new advisory group - which started work in July - are former CAAS director-general Wong Woon Liong, and two former deputy director-generals, Mr Ho Beng Huat and Mr Chiang Hai Eng.
Between them, the four men have more than 100 years of experience in running and managing an airport.
Their primary role is to support Changi Airports International (CAI) - the CAAS subsidiary that manages and invests in airports overseas.
Changi started exporting its consultancy services about 15years ago but it is only in the last one to two years that CAI has stepped up efforts to spread its wings far and wide.
It has thus far gone into China, India, Vietnam, Russia and the Middle East.
Mr Sim, who spoke to The Straits Times recently on the role of the new committee, said: 'We are here to give advice and to provide an overview - the big picture.'
A key function of the group is also to ensure that Changi stays focused and on the right track as it does fierce battle with other equally ambitious airports in the region, Mr Sim said.
Changi's competitors include airports in Kuala Lumpur, Bangkok and Hong Kong.
The past 25 years have been good to Changi but to soar even higher, it must be able to attract and retain good people, and compete more aggressively in the global arena, Mr Sim said.
To do this, the airport - a statutory board - will be corporatised in the next 18 to 24 months.
Restructuring will also give Changi the flexibility to operate more independently.
Mr Sim, who admits to being concerned about CAAS staff being poached, supports corporatisation, adding that it will allow the CAAS to be 'more responsive' to a more dynamic environment.
The decision to corporatise the airport was announced by Transport Minister Raymond Lim on Thursday.
He noted that increasingly, airports are no longer seen as basic infrastructure, but as a business.
Many of Changi's major competitors are already either already corporatised or privatised.
karam@sph.com.sg
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