Booming commercial aviation traffic led to congestion at the existing Seletar Airbase (today's Seletar Airport), creating a need for a new airport. On 31 August 1931, Sir Cecil Clementi, Governor of the Straits Settlements, announced that Kallang Basin as the location for the new civil aerodrome suitable for land planes and seaplanes, and relieving Seletar of commercial flight activities. This place was chosen over other possible sites because of its proximity to the city centre as well as its location next to the Kallang Basin, which allowed seaplanes to land.