The world’s best airport gets a major makeover, with an incredible 46ft-high digital waterfall and a robot bartender serving free cocktails

• Changi Airport was voted the world’s best airport in 2023’s ‘Oscars of Aviation’
• The airport has revamped its Terminal 2 – so it can welcome 5million more flyers
• READ MORE: Flight attendant reveals secret button that’s hidden on plane seats

The world’s best airport has upped its game.

Singapore’s Changi Airport reigned supreme over more than 550 airports at the ‘Oscars of Aviation’ earlier this year – and now it’s had a major makeover.

The aviation hub, which not only clinched the title for the world’s best airport overall but also for best airport dining and best airport leisure amenities at the Skytrax World Airport Awards 2023, has ‘refreshed and expanded’ its Terminal 2. 

With this expansion, Changi can now accommodate an extra five million passengers per year – bringing the airport’s total handling capacity to 90million flyers annually. 

Among the standout new features at the terminal are a 46ft- (14m) tall digital waterfall, an ‘enchanting’ garden with more than 20,000 plants, a dining area with panoramic views of the airport, and a robot bartender which serves a free cocktail to passengers.

Singapore’s Changi Airport, known as the world’s best airport, ‘refreshed and expanded’ its Terminal 2. Among the standout new features at the terminal is a 46ft- (14m) tall digital waterfall

Passengers can enjoy ‘stunning panoramic views of the airport’ from the terminal’s new Gourmet Garden dining area (above)  

The brand new Dreamscape garden, pictured, is said to ‘mesmerise with its enchanting array of plants’ 

The ‘signature feature’, a statement notes, is the aforementioned ‘Wonderfall’ digital waterfall – a giant screen showing footage of gushing water.

Set in the middle of a vertical garden in the heart of the departure hall, it’s said to offer passengers a ‘soothing sensory experience with a seemingly endless flow of water’ as they await their flight.

Passengers can grab their free cocktail from Toni the robot bartender at the ‘luxurious’ new double-storey Lotte Duty Free Wines & Spirits store. 

Inside the store, there’s a ‘massive’ LED ring that plays ‘calming scenes of the moon reflected in a lake’, the airport reveals.

Upstairs there’s a bar-lounge area called ‘Forest of Li Bai’, which is complete with a wall of 18 whiskeys and a digital selfie mirror that will allow you to take photos with K-pop stars in the frame. 

Passengers can grab a free cocktail from the terminal’s ‘in-airport robot bartender’ Toni at the new double-storey Lotte Duty Free Wines & Spirits store

Now that Terminal 2 has been expanded, Changi can now accommodate an extra five million passengers per year

Above is a bar-lounge area called ‘Forest of Li Bai’, which is complete with a wall of 18 whiskeys 

Elsewhere in the terminal is the brand new Dreamscape garden, which is said to ‘mesmerise with its enchanting array of plants’. It’s nestled underneath a ‘digital sky’ that changes colour depending on the time of day, the airport explains.

A statement notes: ‘The garden features more than 20,000 plants selected from some 100 species from ferns to shrubs. Throughout the garden, the tropical sounds of Singapore can be heard through over 100 calls of birds, insects and other local creatures.’

Passengers can also enjoy ‘stunning panoramic views of the airport’ from the terminal’s new Gourmet Garden dining area, which is decorated with ‘luscious foliage draping down from above’.

While there, diners can try cocktail fusions at The Satay Club by Harry’s, chicken rice at Wee Nam Kee Chicken Rice restaurant, or fresh pastries and ‘Kopi Gu You Hainan’ (butter coffee) at The Hainan Story bakery. 

A statement says: ‘The Gourmet Garden isn’t just a culinary hotspot, it’s a place for plane spotters too.

‘As many as 16 different airplanes are viewable through the floor-to-ceiling windows, giving passengers the chance to experience the hustle and bustle on the ground.’

Diners can try cocktail fusions at The Satay Club by Harry’s and chicken rice at Wee Nam Kee Chicken Rice restaurant at the new Gourmet Garden dining area

The terminal has fully reopened ‘ahead of schedule’ following a three-and-a-half-year expansion project, the airport confirms

The ‘2 Bears Hideout’ offers families a space to play and entertain their children while awaiting their flight. There, youngsters can ‘snuggle up in a beehive, bounce atop a honeycomb or let their imagination run wild’, a statement says.

The refurbished and expanded T2 has added more than 21,000 sq m (226,000 sq ft) to the terminal building, which means more space for new systems and retail areas, the airport says.

An example of this is the Fast and Seamless Travel (FAST) zone, now with almost double the amount of automated check-in kiosks and bag-drop machines.

It’s the airport’s first terminal to feature automated special assistance lanes for young children and passengers with disabilities, at arrival and departure immigration.

It also benefits from a new and fully automated ‘early baggage storage system’ that can handle up to 2,400 bags.

The ‘2 Bears Hideout’ (above) offers families a space to play and entertain their children while awaiting their flight 

The refurbished and expanded T2 has added more than 21,000 sq m (226,000 sq ft) to the terminal building, which means more space for new systems and retail areas, the airport says

The Fast and Seamless Travel (FAST) zone at T2 (pictured) has almost double the amount of automated check-in kiosks and bag drop machines following the expansion project

The new T2 is the airport’s first terminal to feature automated special assistance lanes for young children and passengers with disabilities 

The terminal has fully reopened ‘ahead of schedule’ following the three-and-a-half-year expansion project.

Speaking at the T2 Expansion Opening Ceremony last week, Senior Minister and Coordinating Minister for National Security Teo Chee Hean said: ‘The T2 expansion project started in January 2020, two months before Singapore closed its borders because of the Covid-19 pandemic.

‘But Changi Airport Group (CAG) pushed ahead with the T2 expansion, driven by the conviction that our Changi air hub would not only recover from the pandemic, but emerge stronger.’

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