Changi Airport terminals are all going to be much quieter places come 2018.

This was after the best place in Singapore and world announced it will stop final calls for boarding and paging for specific passengers from Jan. 1, 2018 onwards.

Too many announcements

Currently, on average, there is an announcement made every five minutes at each terminal.

In the new initiative, the number of announcements made in the airport will be halved.

Focus on important announcements only

Announcements on emergencies, lost and found children and passports, flight delays, gate changes and belt changes will still be made.

These are considered more important announcements.

Changi Airport Group (CAG) spokesman Ivan Tan told The Straits Times that this initiative will ensure a quiet and relaxed ambience in busier airport terminals and passengers can focus on important announcements made.

"With more flights and passengers, maintaining the present frequency of announcements will mean noisier terminals and more interruptions in time to come. One concern is that passengers may pay less attention to the announcements made over the public address system, crowding out the more critical announcements."

In 2014, CAG requested airlines to either make a final call for boarding or page for passengers, instead of doing both.

There has been negligible impact on the number passengers showing up late for their flights from that initiative, according to Tan.

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Silent airport concept not new

Several airports around the world have already adopted this silent airport concept to reduce noises and unnecessary disruptions to travellers' rest.

For example, only in unique circumstances are name paging done in Hong Kong International Airport. No final call announcement is made.

In London City Airport, only in case of emergency or during bad weather are announcements made.

At Brussels Airport, only emergency announcements are made.

Alternative navigation and reminder tools

To prepare passengers for this change, all airlines have to emphasise the boarding time and remind passengers to be at the gate on time during check-ins.

Messages are already displayed on the various platforms, such as flight information display screens, Changi Airport website and iChangi app to inform passengers of this change.

Flight details and real-time updates can also be found on these platforms.