SATS Opens New Air Cargo Facility At Changi Airport

_{SATS' New BUP Handling Centre. Photo: SATS}

SATS Ltd. (SATS), one of the world’s leading providers of air cargo and ground handling services, has announced the opening of a new BUP Handling Centre facility at Changi Airport by SATS Singapore Hub (SG Hub) on 5 August 2025.

The new BUP Handling Centre, named after BUPs, features six lanes and six weighing stations dedicated to BUPs. Located at SATS Cargo’s Airfreight Terminal, this new dedicated facility, covering about half the size of a soccer field, is set to enhance and optimise airfreight operations.

^{Group Photo at SATS BUP Facility Opening Ceremony. Photo: SATS}

Bulk Unitisation Programme shipments, also known as BUPs, are cargo packages assembled by freight forwarders or shippers and delivered to SATS to be loaded onto flights. Typically, BUPs would combine multiple items, such as smaller e-commerce consignments, boxed goods, or loose parcels, into a single package.

Operated by SATS Cargo, the new BUP Handling Centre aims to cut air cargo processing time by 20%, reducing it from two-and-a-half hours to two hours. This would offer customers greater flexibility and faster response times, especially for time-sensitive shipments. The new facility would also help to free capacity and alleviate congestion at existing terminals and roadways, resolve acceptance issues on suitable sized BUPs for aircraft cargo holds, and allow direct towing of accepted cargo to the airside for uplift. These improvements would help streamline cargo flow operations and boost handling efficiency.

“In the air cargo logistics network where every minute counts, the BUP Handling Centre’s enhanced processes are a game-changer for SATS Cargo operations at Changi Airport. The new facility will allow faster, safer, and more efficient processing and handling of air cargo shipments, by day and by night and in all-weather conditions,” said Kuah Boon Kiam, Senior Vice-President of Cargo Services at SG Hub.

The new facility will also be used as a testbed to test and improve air cargo systems and processes for possible future deployment at Changi Airport’s Terminal 5 and the Changi East Industrial Zone.