SINGAPORE - For 32 hours, airport staff worked round the clock to cater to the needs of a 74-year-old passenger in a wheelchair – including emptying his urine drainage bag.
The Australian, who was alone and required assistance, was stuck during a layover in the transit holding area at Changi Airport’s Terminal 3 in May 2021, after his family had wrongly booked a later flight for him.
He had arrived in Singapore from Manila, where he had undergone surgery. It is not known what surgical procedure he had.
To meet his needs, airport staff – who were in personal protective equipment (PPE) – not only helped him go to the toilet and emptied his urine drainage bag, but also bought him food and charged his phone to ensure he stayed connected with his family.
The staff also created a makeshift bed with sofas and blankets for him to rest, as he wanted to save on temporary accommodation.
One of the challenges, said Mr Sairoz Sanwan, an operations assistant at ground handler Sats, was taking care of the passenger while wearing PPE as it restricted his movement.
Mr Sairoz, 55, and five of his colleagues were awarded the top All-Star Service Team of the Year award at Changi Airport’s 28th Annual Airport Celebration at Raffles City Convention Centre on Wednesday evening.
The award was among seven awards given out at the ceremony to highlight inspiring acts by service staff. Award winners received vouchers valued between $1,500 and $15,000.
Other recipients included P-Serv’s Changi Experience ambassador Andiappan Velu Hemalatha and Changi Experience executive Abirammi Porzelian.
They won the Outstanding Service Team of the Year for helping a passenger get a last-minute repatriation flight to India in July 2020 to see his critically ill mother.
Ms Hemalatha, 37, had spotted the passenger crying at Changi Airport MRT station on July 28, 2020. He could not get a flight ticket due to Covid-19 restrictions.
She advised him to contact the High Commission of India, where he renounced his permanent residency the next day to qualify for a repatriation flight.
On July 30, despite learning that all flights were full, Ms Hemalatha – who was off duty – and Ms Abirammi waited with the man until he managed to get a flight after almost four hours. He was able to spend a month with his mother in India before she died.
Ms Abirammi, 30, said: “That was quite touching for us because it might be a small gesture, but he managed to spend time with his mother.”
Transport Minister S. Iswaran, who attended the event, said Changi Airport has made “quite a remarkable recovery” in just over half a year, adding that the ramp-up of operations in recent months has not been easy.
The number of flights and passenger volumes have now reached about two-thirds of pre-pandemic levels, he said.
Mr Iswaran added that the aviation sector has so far attracted over 6,000 new workers in 2022.
In August, he said the sector has hired more than 4,000 people in the first half of 2022, and has to hire another 3,500 to 4,000 workers by the end of 2022 to cope with an expected surge in travellers.
The sector had shed about 10,000 workers in the last two years – about a third of the 35,000 workers in 2019 before the pandemic, he said.
