Tech Takes Flight

As Tuas Port consolidates the flow of goods in Singapore's west, the island's eastern side hums with a different kind of movement: People.

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In 2024, 67.7 million passengers passed through Changi Airport—a stark contrast to 2020, when the Covid-19 pandemic brought global travel to a standstill.

For the operations team at Singapore Airlines (SIA), it was an unforgettable time.

Terminals were silent, check-in counters were empty, and conveyor belts stood still, recalls Mr Aldrin Arumugam, manager of SIA's Global Baggage Operations.

Mr Arumugam, 56, oversees baggage services across SIA's global network, which handles over 94,000 pieces of baggage daily.

"No passengers (during the pandemic) meant no bags. And for an operations team like ours, that raised a big question: What do we do?"

Thinking digital The downtime provided an opportunity to rethink operations, says Mr Arumugam, who has been working at SIA for 28 years. His team was able to strip down processes, refine policies, and make operations more efficient, he adds.

One project that took shape during this period: A self-help tool for filing damaged baggage reports on the SIA website, powered by generative artificial intelligence (gen AI).