Hong Kong International Airport's Capacity to Receive Visitors (2015/07/08)

Following is a question by the Hon Yiu Si-wing and a written reply by the Secretary for Transport and Housing, Professor Anthony Cheung Bing-leung, in the Legislative Council today (July 8):

Question: 

     There are views that as the existing two-runway system (2RS) of the airport will likely reach its maximum practical capacity in 2016-2017, it is necessary for the authorities to formulate measures to further enhance the capacity of the airport to receive visitors before expanding it into a three-runway system (3RS), so as to maintain the service quality of the airport as well as its status as an aviation hub in Asia. In this connection, will the Government inform this Council:

(1) whether it knows, among the visitors received by the airport in each of the past five years, the respective numbers of Hong Kong residents, overseas visitors and mainland visitors (set out in Annex 1);

(2) whether it knows, among the overseas visitors and mainland visitors received by the airport in each of the past five years, the respective numbers of those (i) destined for Hong Kong, (ii) transiting via Hong Kong to mainland cities, and (iii) transiting via Hong Kong to overseas cities (set out in Annex 2); and

(3) whether it has assessed the capacity of the airport to receive transit passengers during the period when the maximum practical capacity of 2RS has saturated and the 3RS has yet to be commissioned; if it has, of the details and the corresponding measures; if not, the reasons for that; whether it has assessed how far the capacity of the airport to receive transit passengers may be enhanced upon the commissioning of 3RS; if it has, of the details; if not, the reasons for that?

Reply: 

President,

     Our reply to the various parts of the question raised by the Hon Yiu Si-wing is as follows:

(1) and (2) According to the information provided by the Airport Authority Hong Kong (AA), the number of passengers of the Hong Kong International Airport (HKIA) in the past five years is set out in Annex 3. The number of passengers with Hong Kong as their destination, who travelled to cities in the Mainland or overseas cities by taking a connecting flight in Hong Kong is set out in Annex 4.

(3) Air traffic at the HKIA has been growing significantly over the past few years. According to the latest projection, the existing two-runway system (2RS) might reach its practical maximum capacity of 420 000 air traffic movements (ATMs) per annum in 2016 or 2017, a few years ahead of the forecast made in the HKIA Master Plan 2030 released by the AA in 2011.

     The AA is investing over $12 billion in constructing new facilities to meet medium-term demand. It has completed the West Apron expansion project to provide 28 additional aircraft parking stands. The Midfield development project, which includes a new passenger concourse and 20 additional aircraft parking stands, is also underway. Works on the project are expected to be completed by the end of 2015. Upon completion of the project, the number of aircraft parking stands will increase to around 180 and the HKIA will be able to handle an additional 10 million passengers each year.

     While the above expansion projects could temporarily enhance the operations of the HKIA, the bottleneck of the overall handling capacity of the HKIA remains the capacity of the existing 2RS. Besides, facing intensifying competition from airports in neighbouring cities (such as Pudong Airport in Shanghai, Baiyun Airport in Guangzhou, Changi Airport in Singapore and Incheon Airport in Seoul), there is an urgent need to implement the 3RS project in order to meet Hong Kong's long-term air traffic demand and to maintain our overall competitiveness. The AA expects that upon completion of the 3RS project, the HKIA will have the capacity to handle 620 000 ATMs per year, and handle an additional 30 million passengers to a total of 100 million passengers annually.