SINGAPORE - Retailers in Changi Airport terminals and Jewel Changi Airport will have their rental fees fully waived for the period of closure until June 13, Changi Airport Group (CAG) chief executive officer Lee Seow Hiang said on Monday (May 24).
He was responding to a question at a press conference on how airport staff and tenants will be helped financially after the buildings were closed on May 13.
CAG is also working with some government agencies and commercial companies to make sure airport workers are "recognised appropriately".
"That's always been our approach. It's too early for us to reveal the details. Particularly for the workers, we are in active discussions to make sure they will be supported," he said.
The airport terminals and Jewel were closed to stem the spread of the growing Changi Airport Terminal 3 cluster, and it came on the back of the air hub's struggles to recover from the trough of the pandemic.
While T3 - along with T1 - remains open to passengers, most shops there have opted to close, apart from a few bistros.
In preparation for their reopening to the public next month, CAG has relooked its operations to shore up safety at its terminals and Jewel.
It has identified arrival gates as the primary infection site for the cluster, and is putting in enhanced safety and zoning protocols to ensure that arriving passengers who potentially carry the virus have no contact with others who are in the airport.
Mr Lee said one of CAG's key aims is to ensure that the public can be confident in the safety of the 14,000 workers in the airport - in particular the 4,400 of them who are working in arrival zones.
He also urged the public to not discriminate against these workers.
"Changi Airport workers are without doubt at the front line of the pandemic, facing risks every day. We should not discriminate against them. In fact, now is the time we need to actively support them," he said.
"Just as nurses, doctors working in infection wards, they have to go home at the end of the shift and I hope we embrace them when we go home."
