Overview
- Changi Airport Group and ground handler SATS began a first‑phase rollout on Tuesday with up to 18 autonomous wheelchairs — nine in Terminal 2 and nine in Terminal 3 — running on set transit‑area routes.
- The service is restricted to SATS‑served transfer passengers who can walk short distances and have layovers longer than 90 minutes, and journeys are monitored in real time from a SATS control centre.
- The wheelchairs include safety features such as obstacle sensors, seatbelt monitoring that prevents movement unless fastened, an emergency stop and an assistance call button, and they carry up to 136 kg at a top speed of 3.5 km/h with a 10 kg luggage basket.
- The deployment follows operational trials from March 2025 to June 2026 that involved more than 13,000 passengers and SATS says the machines are intended to free staff from routine transfers so they can assist passengers with greater needs.
- Demand for wheelchair help rose about 20% from 2023 to 2025 with roughly 2,300 requests a day and CAG and SATS say wider scaling will depend on operational learning, passenger take‑up and longer‑term capacity planning for Changi East and Terminal 5.