Meet the people who make Singapore Changi Airport one of the best in the world, from gardeners who tend 700,000 plants and 800 BUTTERFLIES to the team who create ‘wow’ moments

Singapore Changi Airport is one of the best airports in the world – and number 1 in the eyes of many travelers.

It ranked second in this year’s Airport Oscars, winning the award consecutively from 2013 to 2020 and coming first in 2023.

The secret of success? For starters, they employ people who work full-time to make it spectacular.

Here, MailOnline Travel reveals who some of them are, from the horticulturists who care for 700,000 plants and 800 butterflies for the airport’s incredible gardens, to the general manager of ‘experience creation’. Her job? To create ‘wow moments’.

Read on as they lift the veil on running a world-famous interchange.

Dorothy Lim, Senior Horticulture Manager

Changi airport houses with enchanting indoor greenery of 24,000 m² – equivalent to 19 Olympic-sized swimming pools – and outdoor greenery of 290,000 m² (3.1 million sq ft), explains Dorothy Lim, one of the airport’s gardeners.

She explains that it took the team two days to water this amount of vegetation by hand. Fortunately, they are helped by automation.

Dorothy Lim helps nurture the greenery at Changi Airport, which covers over 300,000 m²

Dorothy explains that passengers touch Changi’s plants out of curiosity – “to see if they are real.” Above this is Terminal 4

She explains: ‘About 90 percent of our interior landscapes are irrigated by automated irrigation systems, while most of our outdoor greenery relies on natural rainfall.

‘Because Singapore is located in the tropics, there is a fair amount of rain all year round.’

Do airport users ever damage the plants?

Dorothy says: ‘Yes, it often happens that our factories are damaged by airport users. Some passengers touch the plants out of curiosity, because they want to verify that the plants or flowers are real.’

How does she decide what goes where?

She says: ‘I choose plants that match the theme of the landscape and the growing conditions. For example, in Sunflower Garden in Terminal 2, I prefer plants with yellow and orange tones, and they need to be able to tolerate full sun as Singapore is scorching hot on most days.

‘On the other hand, I am going to put nectar plants in the Butterfly Garden – near Terminal 3 – because they can become food for the butterflies there. In outdoor areas, I usually avoid trees or plants that bear fruit because they attract wildlife, which in turn can endanger aviation safety.’

Khaja Nazimuddeen, general manager of horticulture

Above is Changi horticulturist Khaja Nazimuddeen, who reveals that there are around 800 butterflies fluttering around Changi at any given time

Khaja explains that the horticultural team takes care of the plants that line the roads of the airport

Khaja was part of the team that created Changi’s breathtaking nature-themed ‘Jewel’ entertainment and shopping complex.

He reveals: “Working on the conceptualization of Jewel Changi Airport’s horticultural exhibitions in the five years leading up to the complex’s opening – from 2014 to 2019 – was a real challenge, but also rewarding and memorable. It was heartwarming to see Jewel become an icon of Changi Airport and Singapore.

‘The Jewel project delivered a 20,000 square meter garden with approximately 2,000 trees and palms and almost 100,000 shrubs in an indoor environment, located mainly in the Shiseido Forest Valley around the Jewel Rain Vortex.’

Are there any surprising aspects of his role?

Khaja says: ‘Our horticultural team also takes care of the plants along Airport Boulevard, to or from our terminals. It covers 15 hectares of roads. The roads leading from the airport represent travellers’ first impressions and final snapshots of Singapore. To maintain our reputation as a Garden City, it is therefore very important that the greenery is well maintained.’

The Jewel room, which Khaja describes as an “icon” of Changi Airport

Singapore Changi Airport took second place in this year’s ‘Oscars for Airports’

Above is a ‘dreamscape’ area in Changi’s Terminal 2

We hear there are butterflies…

Khaja says, “We have about 800 butterflies at any given time, across 25 species, and most of them come from the tropical region. They are mainly divided into two types of butterflies: nectar-feeding and fruit-feeding. While the former can collect nectar from the many flowers in the Butterfly Garden, our team prepares containers with fruit, such as pineapple, for the fruit-feeding butterflies.’

Where do they come from?

Khaja explains: ‘Every Wednesday we receive a shipment of 600 pupae of different species from a breeder in Malaysia. The most common species are Lacewing, Common Rose, Blue Pansy and Common Birdwing. Butterflies have a typical lifespan of 10 to 14 days.’

Delfine Ong, Managing Director, Experience Creation

On the right is Delfine Ong, who is deployed to create ‘wow’ moments at Changi

The Chandelier in Terminal 4, a 16-meter high play structure with rope courses for passengers to enjoy before flying. Delfine describes this as a ‘striking project’

Delfine has been with Changi Airport Group for 10 years and has been with the Experience Creation team since day one.

Her role? To create ‘wow moments’.

She explains: ‘We like to think we have the most exciting job at the airport!

“Our team is responsible for creating those unforgettable ‘wow’ moments that make passengers’ journeys enjoyable and memorable. We come up with innovative and exciting ideas to improve the travel experience.

‘Some of our standout projects include the recently launched Wonderfall, a 14 (45 feet) meter high LED screen with a lifelike waterfall, and the Chandelier in Terminal 4, a 16 (52 feet) meter high play structure with rope courses where passengers to enjoy before their flight.’

What is the most challenging part of the job?

Delfine reveals that the project closest to her heart is the karting track built in Terminal 4 during the Covid pandemic

She reveals: ‘The biggest challenge of my job is figuring out what the next ‘big thing’ will be.

‘An important part of my role is thinking outside the box and developing innovative ideas that will amaze our passengers, while ensuring they fit within the airport context.

‘We strive to create unique experiences that people would not normally expect at an airport. Balancing this creativity with practicalities – keeping everything safe and relevant and not disrupting airport operations – is always a delicate and exciting challenge.”

Which project is closest to her heart?

Wong Meng Kwan, director of design management. He tells MailOnline Travel that the aim is to create ‘calming, stress-free and pleasantly surprising experiences’.

She notes: “The project closest to my heart is converting Terminal 4 into a karting track. This happened during the Covid-19 pandemic when Terminal 4 was closed and the airport was a gloomy place due to travel restrictions. We managed to transform Terminal 4 into a space where Singaporeans could find some peace, excitement and happiness, almost as if they were taking a short holiday when travel was not possible.

‘We have turned Terminal 4 into a magical place, offering a unique opportunity to use an airport terminal as a race track.’

Wong Meng Kwan, director of design managementadds: ‘Each project is seen as an opportunity for a unique design intervention, without following a rigid formula or design manual. Our guiding principles are focused on providing a soothing, stress-free and pleasantly surprising experience.”

The goal is to “find the sweet spot between aesthetics, functionality, ease of maintenance, cost, implementation time and quality control.”

For more information about Singapore, visit Changi Airport www.changiairport.com.