With more than 62.2 million passengers passing through Changi Airport last year, keeping the airport spick and span is an important task. Having a robust cleaning regime in place helps to keep our terminal and facilities fresh and clean for passengers and the public. This ensures that a visit to Changi will always be a pleasant experience, each and every time.

For most people, the first location that comes to mind when cleaning is mentioned might be the toilets, which the cleaners at Changi take great pride in keeping clean. Besides cleaning the places most frequented by passengers, did you know that even the art installations in our terminals, which passengers have come to enjoy, also undergoes scheduled cleaning?

The cleaning are typically carried out during the off-peak hours of the day, so that it has minimal impact on airport operations and the passenger experience.

‘Coming Home’ sculpture at Terminal 3

The ‘Coming Home’ sculpture at T3’s arrival hall, getting a good clean up

One of the biggest art pieces at Changi Airport is the ‘Coming Home’ sculpture by Chinese artist Han Meilin, situated at T3’s arrival hall. While the sculpture - made of three varieties of metal, requires minimal maintenance, cleaning still has to be carried out every six months.

On the scheduled cleaning date, Changi Airport Group (CAG)’s cleaning contractor will deploy the necessary manpower, together with a scissors lift, for the cleaning. This will be done for about two hours over two consecutive mornings, during T3’s off-peak period. The sculpture will be dusted on the first day, followed by cleaning with cloth and water on the second day.

Wiping down the sculpture with a cleaning pole, to get to the hard to reach places

‘Kinetic Rain’ at Terminal 1

For the other iconic art piece at T1 – Kinetic Rain, the kinetic sculpture will first have to be switched off and lowered from the ceiling of the departure hall all the way down to the arrival hall, before cleaning can take place. CAG’s contractor will carry out maintenance checks while cleaning the sculpture at the same time. This cleaning is done every 3 months and the ‘rain drops’ are wiped using clean cloth, as per the manufacturer’s recommendation.

Contractor cleaning each ‘rain drop’ with a clean cloth at T1 arrival hall

Besides ‘Coming Home’ and ‘Kinetic Rain’, all the other art pieces in our terminals have their own individual cleaning schedules. The cleaning frequency ranges from daily – for sculptures which the public can touch, such as the ‘Hey, Ah Chek’ art piece in T4’s departure hall, to once in a few months for those that are out of reach.

Keeping the facilities clean is important, as Changi airport strives to ensure that passengers have a pleasant experience every time they visit.