The Airport Authority (AA) yesterday announced a HK$4.5-billion expansion plan for Chek Lap Kok 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 told a press conference that the amount was an investment into the future and 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 per cent 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, would go into airfield revamp, with the break-up being as follows:

HK$1 billion for a new two-storey 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 upgradation is expected to be completed by 2007.

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 sometime 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 would be spent on revamping the passenger terminal building. About HK$200 million would go into the central concourse face-lift to create more space and make it more attractive, HK$600 million for merging the two arrivals immigration 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 advance X-ray scanners. This part of the work will be completed by 2010.

AA's HK$4 billion cash flow was 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 had to reach a consensus on what kind of airport it wants to have in Hong Kong before the AA could charge forward.

AA has already held in-house discussions on having an airport big enough to handle 100 million passengers annually in the next 20 to 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 will inevitably suffer for that, he said. Plus, load capacity of Tsing Ma Bridge was 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 have to have the 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 come under one airport authority.

Chek Lap Kok Airport has to become one to serve the entire country, he said. A prerequisite for this new role will require a lot of efforts 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 wasn't much service overlap between the airports in Hong Kong and Macao, where the authorities were 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.

(China Daily January 27, 2006)