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COMMUNICATIONS
100,000 square-mile Hong Kong Flight Information Region, rests with the Civil Aviation Department.
The airport, situated three miles from the busy commercial and hotel centre of Kowloon, is a major link on the air routes of the Far East. It has been designed and developed to provide facilities for passengers and cargo of a standard second to none in the Orient. The airport is linked to all parts of the world by 28 airlines, providing each week a total of more than 800 scheduled passenger services to and from Hong Kong, of which some 72 services are by Boeing 747 'jumbo' jet aircraft, and about 90 scheduled freight services. In addition many non-scheduled passenger and cargo flights are also operated. During the year 2,369,704 passengers passed through the airport, 75,464 metric tons of cargo were handled and the total num- ber of civil international aircraft arrivals and departures amounted to 48,873; showing increases over the previous year of two per cent, 23 per cent and four per cent respectively.
Operational services provided at the airport include air traffic control, telecommunications, air/sea rescue, the airport fire, crash and rescue service, aeronautical information and, in conjunction. with the Royal Observatory, an aeronautical meteorological service.
The passenger terminal building provides shops, restaurants, bars, an observation terrace, a post office, as well as telegraph and banking facilities. The terminal operates on a 'two level' system of passenger movement, speeding the flow of passengers by utilising the first floor for all departures and the ground floor for arrivals, with a mechanised baggage handling and distribution system on each floor. Customs, immigration and port health facilities work to an 'open front' system of passenger processing to reduce long queues and waiting periods. A separate channel is now provided for aircrew and staff.
To meet the anticipated demand beyond 1972, further expansion of the terminal is planned to increase the passenger handling capacity to more than 3,200 passengers per hour, compared with the present 2,200. The expansion forms Stage IV of the terminal development programme, the first two phases of which are planned to increase the airside waiting areas, provide three more aircraft parking bays with airbridges, a new restaurant and additional departure hall public area, and extend the arrivals hall and provide a multi-storey car park.
Construction and modification of other airport facilities continued throughout the year. A new outer taxiway and nullah bridge capable of supporting aircraft of 1.5 million pounds weight was completed. Enlargement of the terminal apron continued while an extension of