Last Friday evening, I boarded a SilkAir flight from Singapore to Medan.

We boarded punctually and were seated. But we ended up waiting a full hour before the plane took off.

The pilot apologised profusely, explaining that with incoming flights being late, there was no runway for us to take off.

It was a hot and uncomfortable wait.

No drinks were served, nor any reading materials handed out.

With 175 passengers on the full flight, it was 175 productive man hours lost.

If the runways are busy, the airport should not allow passengers to board the plane.

Waiting in the departure hall would be much more comfortable than being holed up in a cramped plane.

It has been reported that Changi Airport will be adding 130 new flights a week and that it is set to break last year's record of 58.7 million passengers (Changi set for record passenger traffic this year; Oct 30).

However, does the airport really have the facilities, software and manpower to manage so many flights and passengers?

Michael Lum Yan Meng