Leaders of the Civil Aviation Authority of Singapore (CAAS) have saidthat they were "determined to entrench Singapore as an aviationpowerhouse regionally and globally”.

CAAS’ssurplus for the year ended March 31, 2013 rose 15 percent year-on-yearto 131.15 million SGD, boosted by higher income from air navigationservice charges, aviation levy and ground rent.

According to the CAAS, air navigation service charges - payable by theairport licensees of Changi Airport and Seletar Airport for servicesprovided to air traffic - rose from101.85 million SGD in the previousyear to 118.75 million SGD last financial year.

Meanwhile, aviation levy surged from 98.35 million SGD to 109.15 millionSGD, and ground rent from 72.55 million SGD to 75.35 million SGD.

In 2012, Changi Airport catered to a record 51.2 million passengers,up from 46.5 million a year earlier. However, cargo carried slipped from1.87 million tonnes previously to 1.83 million tonnes last year.

In August, the CAAS announced that Changi's Terminal5, due to open in the mid-2020s, will be built on a 1,080 ha plot ofland, a site which is separate from the other terminals. Observersbelieve that the new terminal will most likely be the airport’s biggestone that will be capable of handling between 30 and 50 millionpassengers a year.

Construction of Terminal 4, with aplanned capacity of 16 million passenger movements a year, will beginthis year and is slated to be completed in 2017.-VNA