THERE IS NO DOUBT HOWEVER THAT A CONSTRAINED AIRPORT WOULD SEVERELY LIMIT OUR ECONOMIC GROWTH AND MAKE HONG KONG INCREASINGLY LESS ATTRACTIVE AS A MAJOR CENTRE FOR TRADE, FINANCI AND COMMERCE, SHE SAID.
AS TO THE SUGGESTIONS THAT NEW AIRPORTS IN MACAU AND SHENZHEN WOULD SOMEHOW MEAN THE NEED OF CHEK LAP KOK WOULD NOT BE AS URGENT
AS WE CLAIM, MRS CHAN SAID FIRST, WE DID NOT SEE HOW MACAU WOULD, IN THE LONG TERM, DRAW AWAY ANY SIGNIFICANT TRAFFIC FROM HONG HONG.
"IT
WILL HAVE A SEPARATE COMPLEMENTARY ROLE IN THE REGION OF SERVING MACAU AND ITS ADJACENT PEARL RIVER DELTA HINTERLAND.
"IT CANNOT POSSIBLY BE EXPECTED TO ATTRACT TRAFFIC IN ANY SIGNIFICANT VOLUME FROM AN AVIATION HUB THE SIZE OF HONG KONG, WITH THE CONVENIENCE IT OFFERS IN PROVIDING CONNECTIONS TO A VAST NETWORK OF REGIONAL AND INTERNATIONAL ROUTES.
"THE RESISTANCE TO ROUTING PASSENGERS TO HONG KONG THROUGH MACAU WOULD BE VERY HIGH, SHE SAID.
ON THE OTHER HAND, MRS CHAN NOTED THAT HUANGTIAN SHENZHEN WOULD UNDOUBTEDLY HAVE SOME EFFECT ON HONG KONG.
AIRPORT IN
"IT WILL POTENTIALLY FULFIL A HELPFUL ROLE IN RELIEVING PRESSURE ON KAT TAK WHEN CAPACITY HAS BEEN REACHED THERE AND UNTTI CHEK LAP KOK OPENS.
"ONCE KAI TAK BECOMES SEVERELY CONGESTED, IT IS QUITE POSSIBLE THAT MAINLAND TRAFFIC COMING TO HONG KONG MAY FIND IT MORA CONVENIENT ΤΟ PLY TO SHENZHEN IN THE FIRST INSTANCE AND TO TRAVEL ON INTO HONG KONG BY ROAD.
"THIS IS, OF COURSE, ASSUMING THAT AN EFFICIENT ROAD LINE CAN BE INTRODUCED IN TIME TO PROVIDE FOR THIS," MRS CHAN NOTED.
IN THE MOST OPTIMISTIC SCENARIO OF ALL, MAINLAND AIR CARRIERE OPTING TO DO THIS, MRS CHAN SAID THE GOVERNMENT THOUGHT KAL TAK WOULD BR RELIEVED OF 10 PER CENT OF 1TS PASSENGERS AND 17 PER CENT OF ITS AIRCRAFT MOVEMENTS. THIS WOULD HELP HONG KONG BY DELAYING CAPACITY AT KAI TAK BY 12 TO 18 MONTHS, THAT WAS UNTIL 1995, ON THE BASIA OF CURRENT FORECASTS, SHE ADDED.
"ANOTHER OPTIMISTIC SCENARIO, WHICH MIGHT ALSO PROVIDE KAT TAR WITH SOME RELIEF, WOULD BE THE COMMENCEMENT OF DIRECT FLIGHTS BETWEEN CHINA AND TAIWAN,
PHTS WOULD RELIEVS KAI TAK OF POSSIBLY ANOTHER FIVE PER OF ITS TOTAL PASSENGER TRAFFIC," MRS CHAN NOTED.
CENT
TAKEN TOGETHER WITH THE POTENTIAL RELIEF PROVIDED BY SHENZHEN, MRS CHAN ESTIMATED THAT TUS DINING FOR KAI TAK TO REACH CAPACI COULD BE DELAYED THROUGH TO THE END OF 1995.
"IN OTHER WORDS, EVEN TAKING INTO
BB 1
+
OF ASSUMPTIONS, THERE CAN BE NO DOUBT THAT WE SHOULD BE MAKING EVERY EFFORT, AS
WE ARE DOING, TO WORK TOWARDS THE OPENING OF CHEK LAP BOK AS EARLY AS POSSIBLE.
ж