Singapore Airport is set to close its Terminal 2 for a period of 18 months. The closure was announced by the Singapore Transport Minister Khaw Boon Wan earlier today.

Last week Heathrow, London's busiest airport, announced that it would be closing half of its terminals. The airport is consolidating all flights to Terminals 2 and 5, its newest facilities, and now we can see that other airports are following suit. Specifically, Singapore is now closing Terminal 2, which will remain closed into 2021. This will allow the airport to focus on upgrading the terminal, a process that will be much quicker thanks to the closure.

Terminal closure

Singapore has been working on upgrading Terminal 2 of Changi International Airport. According to The Straits Times, this was a project due to be carried out with the terminal open. However, recently Singapore has seen a drastic decrease in passenger numbers. While this is not exclusive to Singapore Airport, it has been hit harder than some others.

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Most of the previously laid off staff has joined the airline again. Photo: Getty Images

In order to cope with the situation it is faced with, Singapore has placed strict restrictions on who can enter the country and has banned transit passengers. This has presented a unique opportunity to Singapore Changi Airport.

Given the huge fall in services, it made sense to close at least one terminal and consolidate flights in another. Singapore Airlines, the largest carrier at the airport, is operating with just nine aircraft. The obvious candidate for closure was Terminal 2, which was already due to undergo upgrades. As a result of this closure, Singapore's Transport Minister Khaw Boon Wan told The Straits Times:

"Importantly, it also allows us to speed up the current upgrading works at T2 and shorten the project time by up to one year."

Not alone in terminal closures

Singapore Airport is not the only airport to close terminals as travel demand has plummeted. In fact, each of the United Kingdom's three busiest airports have closed terminals. As an example, London Heathrow has closed both Terminal 3 and Terminal 4.

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There could still be large parts of British fleets remaining on the ground while quarantine measures are in place. Photo: Getty Images

Meanwhile, London Gatwick has closed its North Terminal. In fact, according to data from FlightRadar24.com, the airport hosted just four arrivals yesterday. This makes it a miracle that the UK's second busiest airport is open at all. Surely there is a serious argument to be made for these four services to be relocated.

Manchester Airport, the third busiest in the United Kingdom has closed two-thirds of its terminals. Finally, London City Airport has suspended all flights for the time being due to a significant fall in demand. Most of London City's traffic was derived from London business travel which has ground to a halt.

Do you think Singapore Airlines made the right decision to close Terminal 2? Let us know your thoughts in the comments.