As one of the world's busiest passenger airports with roughly 70 million people touching down in 2015, Hong Kong International Airport is struggling to accommodate an ever-increasing traffic flow.
Limited space is the main issue, as the airport can only expand via land reclamation to create artificial islands on which new runways may be housed. The downsides to that solution, however, include exorbitant costs and adverse environmental effects.
Earlier this month, Zhuhai offered to shoulder some of the burden by allowing its underutilized airport to host international business jets bound for Hong Kong, according to the South China Morning Post.
If planes were redirected to Zhuhai, passengers would land there first before taking a 20-minute cross-border helicopter ride to Central in Hong Kong. Other transportation options will be available once the Hong Kong-Zhuhai-Macau bridge is completed in 2018.
The Hong Kong Airport Authority already owns a 55 percent stake in Zhuhai’s airport, so cooperation is feasible and would enable passenger planes to have more favorable time slots for departures and landings, instead of waiting hours to access Hong Kong’s runways. The airport authority group hopes to gain clearance for the plan by next year, according to general manager Albert Yau.
While Zhuhai is the Pearl River Delta’s least utilized airport and receives no international flights, it can house up to 50 large business jets and is currently only operating at less than half of its capacity.
In addition to the Zhuhai solution, other experts claim Hong Kong may need to construct a fourth runway in Shenzhen to cope with excess traffic.
Mike Rowse, the search director for Stanton Chase International who has lived in Hong Kong since 1972, claims the island airport is already at full capacity and will need to cooperate with other regional airports in order to coordinate flow. The cost of building a fourth runway in Hong Kong, he says, would be too high.
Currently, Hong Kong International Airport’s third runway (which cost HKD141.5 billion to build) is still under construction and is expected to be completed by 2023.
At a debate between aviation experts on the future of the sector this April, many suggested the Hong Kong government should start planning farther into the future in order to stay competitive in the global aviation market.
During the debate, James Tong, the director of Cathay Pacific Airways’ Corporate Affairs, called the Pearl River Delta an invaluable resource that Hong Kong should take advantage of.
“For us, the PRD is a big market,” he commented. “That is a pie in which everyone can share.”
[Image via DW DK and Air Cargo News]
0 User Comments