BEIJING - Hong
Kong's Airport Authority (AA) on Friday announced
a HK$4.5 billion (US$580.2 million) expansion plan
for Chek Lap Kok (officially Hong Kong International)
Airport to capitalize on growth opportunities.
The Hong Kong airport will get a new
concourse, more bridge-served stands for aircraft,
additional taxiways, widened taxiway
shoulders for the gigantic
A380 Airbus and repaved runways. Also, some
facilities will be relocated to create more space
in the passenger terminal building. AA chief
executive officer David Pang said the move was an
investment in the future and that he hoped the
airport would be integrated with others in the
Pearl River Delta (PRD) region within the next 25
years.
Passenger throughput at the airport
last year rose to a record 40.74 million, 9.7% up
from 2004. And by 2010, Pang said, the throughput
could reach 10 million, with a similar percentage
increase in cargo handling.
"This is the
first time that Hong Kong has broken the
40-million-passengers barrier," Pang said. This
year will continue to be strong for the airport,
though it might not be as strong as 2005, given
the global forecast of a slower economic growth.
The bulk of the investment, about HK$3
billion, will go into airfield revamping, as
follows:
HK$1 billion for a new two-story satellite
concourse equipped with 10 bridges for small
aircraft and 11 parking stands. This will be
completed by 2009.
HK$300 million to equip the cargo apron with
10 additional freighter stands and a taxi lane.
The upgrade is expected to be completed by next
year.
HK$1.7 billion to widen taxiway shoulders and
reposition runway holding points for the A380
Airbus. This has to be completed in time for the
first landing of the A380 some time this autumn.
There will also be two more rapid exit taxiways
and one lead-in taxiway. The north and south
runways and all taxiway pavements will be
resurfaced, and that could take up to five
years.
The rest of the investment will be
spent on revamping the passenger terminal
building. About HK$200 million will go into the
central concourse facelift to create more space
and make it more attractive, HK$600 million for
merging the two arrivals halls into one to create
more space and increasing the number of transfer,
immigration and security desks, and HK$700 million
for enhancing the baggage-handling system with
more advanced X-ray scanners. This part of the
work will be completed by 2010.
AA's HK$4
billion cash flow is more than enough to finance
the expansion without affecting its ability to pay
dividends to the government, Pang said. In the
long run, he said, the community has to reach a
consensus on what kind of airport it wants to have
in Hong Kong before the AA can charge forward.
100 million passengers AA has
already held in-house discussions on having an
airport big enough to handle 100 million
passengers annually in the next 20-25 years. But
that, he said, was bound to carry a dear price.
More land would have to be reclaimed and more
runways built for a 100-million-passenger airport
and the environment would inevitably suffer, he
said. Plus, the load capacity of Tsing Ma Bridge
(the longest of the three Lantau Link bridges,
which connect Hong Kong Island with the island of
Lantau, where the airport is located) is not
enough to cope with the increased traffic in such
an eventuality.
These questions may seem
too distant to the general public, but that's
exactly what planners need answers to sooner than
later, Pang said. Hong Kong, he thinks, will have
integrated with the PRD region by 2025. And citing
the examples of London and New York/New Jersey, he
said Hong Kong and the other PRD region airports
would eventually come under one airport authority.
Chek Lap Kok has to become one to serve
the entire country, he said. A prerequisite for
this new role will require a lot of effort to
promote domestic flights using Hong Kong. AA has
held talks with some airports near Hong Kong to
explore the chances of cooperation, he said,
refusing to comment further.
There isn't
much service overlap between the airports in Hong
Kong and Macau, where the
authorities are vigorously promoting the enclave
as a hub for budget flights. "This is not a
zero-sum game. They have their strength in certain
areas and we have our strength in others," Pang
said.
