This article is published in Aviation Week & Space Technology and is free to read until Jul 23, 2024. If you want to read more articles from this publication, please click the link to subscribe.
HONG KONG—Despite having already established air-sea and air-land interconnectivity with the Greater Bay Area, the Airport Authority of Hong Kong (AAHK) is hoping to create a seamless and borderless experience for passengers and cargo flowing between Hong Kong and mainland China.
AAHK acting CEO Vivian Cheung said the airport has a unique challenge as it is connected with the Greater Bay Area via the Hong Kong-Zhuhai-Macao Bridge (HZMB) which drives the flow of passengers on bonded buses, as well as sea-air intermodal transshipments between Dongguan, China, and the Hong Kong International Airport (HKG).
“My vision is borderless [connectivity]. But even with borders, how do we make it seamless from the user’s point of view?” Cheung said at the media launch of the Super Terminal Expo, an Informa Markets event to be co-hosted by AAHK and held in Hong Kong Nov. 5-7.
“We have to think differently and be more innovative to be closer to our market,” Cheung said. AAHK is waiting for the airport to reach 100% pre-pandemic passenger volume before deciding when to open the new Terminal 2 and Terminal 2 concourse. AAHK is expecting to hit 100% by end-2024 and will quickly reach Terminal 1’s capacity of 80 million “months” after. As most of the airline’s operations are entrenched in Terminal 1, there will be significant consultation on which airlines will shift to T2, which is estimated to open in the 2025-2026 time frame.
HKG handled 47.2 million passengers over the 12 months ending May 2024 and will commission the three runway system (3RS) by the end of 2024 that will see the airport increase its capacity to 120 million passengers and 10 million tons of cargo annually.
Cheung hopes to share best practices in AAHK’s operations and the construction of the 3RS at the Super Terminal Expo. Numerous Asian countries are seeing pain points trying to achieve sustainable construction in airport projects and maintaining operational efficiency in big airports, she said.
Cheung cited examples including how AAHK was able to acquire sand at a time when countries such as China are limiting its export. She also cited AAHK’s deep cement mixing mechanism that was used in the 3RS runway land reclamation, designed to not disrupt the surrounding maritime environment.
CAPA data shows there are $43.7 billion worth of investments for new airports and a further $146.9 billion for existing airports in Northeast Asia alone.
Related Content
