Retired flip board from Changi Airport’s Terminal 2 to go on display at National Museum

SINGAPORE – Visitors to a new exhibition on travel at the National Museum of Singapore will be greeted by an analogue flight information flip board that was previously used at Changi Airport’s Terminal 2.

Known as a Solari board, it is being installed ahead of the museum’s upcoming exhibition, Now Boarding: Experiencing Singapore Through Travel, which will run from May 27 to Nov 19.

The exhibition traces Singapore’s rich history of travellers from the 1800s to the 2000s and examines the nation’s identity through the lens of travel as a visual language.

The Solari board will be on public display for the first time in the museum’s rotunda, welcoming visitors to the main exhibition. The media was invited on Thursday to watch its installation during a behind-the-scenes tour of the exhibition.

Changi Airport Group announced the

decommissioning of its remaining two Solari boards in Terminal 2,

located between check-in rows 9 and 10 of the departure hall, in January 2020.

It cited difficulties in sourcing parts for the boards and maintaining them.

Each board is made up of a large display, backboard panels, metal casings and 2,052 capsules of individual letters and numbers to show flight details. It is powered by motors that rotate five flaps per second, creating its signature clacking sound to signal that the flight information is about to be renewed.

The board is best remembered for displaying a welcome sign for swimmer Joseph Schooling’s return after his gold medal victory at the 2016 Olympic Games.

While one of the boards has been retired, the other

was donated to the National Heritage Board (NHB)

as part of Singapore’s National Collection in March 2020.

NHB documented the components of the Solari board, which totalled more than 2,000 panels, casings and capsules. They were later transported to a storage facility for cleaning and then transferred to the Heritage Conservation Centre.

Ms Priscilla Chua, senior curator at the National Museum, attributed the three-year lag between the acquisition of the Solari board and its exhibition to the resource-intensive nature of the conservation work, with NHB constantly acquiring artefacts for the national collection.

While NHB immediately recognised the historical value of preserving the iconic Solari board, Ms Chua said a great deal of preparation had to be factored in before it could be displayed to the public. Testing of the board’s set-up began in December 2022.

The installation of the Solari board is set to be completed this week. It will be in place for the duration of the exhibition before being returned to the Heritage Conservation Centre.

Ms Chua said: “It’s important for us to collect something that’s still fresh in people’s minds and strike that kind of resonance in our visitors. It’s historical and symbolic because it was located in a national landmark. (Putting the board) out in the open space is a great teaser to get people curious about the exhibition.”

More details on the exhibition will be revealed at a later date.