Asia will see a travel boom, and countries in the region are surging demand for taking advantage of this.

Singapore's Changi Airport broke ground on its fifth terminal on Wednesday and is expected to operate in the mid-2030s.

The new terminal is located on 1,080 hectares of land, which will almost double the size of the existing area of ​​Changi Airport.

This will allow the airport to handle 140 million passengers per year from its current 90 million passenger capacity. Changi recently won Skytrax's "Best Airport in the World" for the 13th time in 2025, and welcomed 67.7 million passengers in 2024.

According to the Airports Commission of the International Airport Industrial Agency, airports that can handle more than 100 million passengers each year are classified as mega-airports, while the existing 10 airports are in Asia. These are in Beijing, Tokyo and Shanghai.

Air travel will grow nearly 7% over the next 25 years. To cope with demand, airports in the Asia-Pacific and Middle East are expected to undergo extensive development, with a co-investing of $240 billion to upgrade existing facilities and build new airports between 2025 and 2035.

Prime Minister Lawrence Wong said at a groundbreaking event that the decision to build Terminal 5 was because “in the long run, air travel is on a rising trajectory, with much of the growth going to happen in the Asia-Pacific region.”

Wong also said the narrower group will aim to connect with 200 cities currently linked to 170 cities.

"(Changi) connects our island nations to the world and brings the world to Singapore. This connectivity has powered our growth as an air hub, driving industries such as tourism, aerospace and logistics," Wong said.

Wong noted that competition in the region is also intensifying. For example, airports in Asia have made substantial investments in modernizing their infrastructure and adjacent facilities such as entertainment and retail space.

Hong Kong International Airport commissioned a third runway in November and is expanding its Terminal 2. The airport aims to serve 120 million passengers and process 10 million tons of cargo annually starting from 2035.

Bangkok’s Suvarnabhumi Airport opened its third runway in September 2024, and after completing a new satellite terminal a year ago, it has improved the airport’s ability to handle more flights.

Airport operators in Thailand have also revealed a further "East Expansion" plan to increase airport capacity by 2027.

In South Korea, Incheon International Airport in Seoul completed its "4-phase expansion" in December, allowing it to reach up to 106 million passenger capacity from 777 million annual passenger capacity and make it the third largest airport in the world.

Thomas Pellegrin, a transportation, hospitality and service leader from Deloitte Southeast Asia, told CNBC that Asia has become the "Barriggio" of air travel growth after the Covid-19-19 pandemic.

He noted that this growth in air travel is due to the expansion of the middle class, whose tendency to fly is faster than income growth, and the high urbanization rate in the region, which links people to air transport infrastructure.

"Now, regional demand for passenger demand is expected to be 7.9% in the short term and 5.1% in the long term, which is the highest in the world and far higher than mature markets," Pellegrin added.

He said this means that Asian airports will need twice as many passengers and aircraft as they do by 2043, which puts huge pressure on existing infrastructure.

Terminal 5 will also provide plans for Singapore’s plans to increase city-state tourism revenue from a record $29.8 billion in 2024 to $47 billion - $47 billion over the next 15 years.

Singapore’s Minister of Sustainability and Environment Grace Fu said its “tourism industry 2040” strategy focused on increasing demand for two different groups – business and stopovers.

In particular, officials aim to earn triple tourism revenue from business travelers attending conferences, incentives, conventions and exhibitions, Fu said.

According to Melissa OW, CEO of Singapore Tourism Board, transport and transfer passengers currently account for one-third of the total Changi Airport.

Deloitte's Pellegrin said Terminal 5 and the wider Changi Eastern development, including the third runway and industrial zone, will allow Singapore to retain and expand its market share as an air hub, increase connectivity and consolidate Changi's position as the world's best airport.

"All of these effects combine to make it internationally for Singapore's massive 'soft power'."