COMMUNICATIONS AND TRANSPORT
135
New and amended legislation affecting the work of the Marine Department amounted to 17 items. The most important legislation was the new Pilotage Ordinance and major changes in the Merchant Shipping (Recruitment of Seamen) (Amendment) Ordinance 1973. In addition, the departmental legislative programme comprised a further 11 items under consideration.
Civil Aviation
Hong Kong International Airport, although one of the smallest international air- ports in the world in terms of land area, is one of the busiest and most efficient in Asia. Despite Hong Kong's limited space and mountainous terrain the airport has expanded from a 50-acre site in 1930 to one of more than 530 acres in 1973. Much of the land had to be reclaimed from the sea, including the 800 feet wide promontory on which the 8,340 by 200 feet runway-was built in 1958.-
The airport is less than three miles from the busy commercial, hotel and shipping centres of Tsim Sha Tsui in Kowloon and Victoria on Hong Kong Island—both less than 20 minutes away by car. Helicopter services between the airport and Hong Kong Island provide an interesting five-minute flight over the city and harbour. Taxis, hotel buses and a limousine service are readily available, and representatives of the Hong Kong Tourist Association and Hotel Association meet all arriving flights to help smooth the way for the visitor.
The strategic position of Hong Kong, at the hub of the rapidly expanding air traffic routes of Asia, makes the airport of considerable economic significance to the territory. It provides swift air links with all the world's major centres of com- merce, industry and tourism, all factors essential to the continued prosperity of Hong Kong. During the financial year 1972-3, 3,056,795 passengers passed through the airport, and 20 per cent, by value, of Hong Kong's total domestic exports were transported by air. Revenue from the airport during the same period amounted to $122,300,000.
Thirty international airlines provide some 950 scheduled jet passenger services per week to and from airports all over the world in aircraft ranging from the small twin engined Caravelle to the B747 'jumbo' jet, which currently provides nearly 15 per cent of these flights. There are more than 70 scheduled freight services per week, plus a large number of non-scheduled passenger and freight charter flights.
Cathay Pacific Airways, a Hong Kong registered airline, operates seven B707s and five CV880 aircraft that provide more than 170 services per week in Asia to Japan, Korea, the Philippines, Thailand, Malaysia, Singapore, Indonesia and Australia. The airline will re-equip its fleet to 12 B707s and two CV880s by the end of 1974 and is actively considering the purchase of wide-bodied aircraft for possible operation in 1975.
The major British passenger charter airlines operating to and from Hong Kong are the British Airways subsidiary companies, British Overseas Air Charter and British European Airways Airtours. Cargo charter operations are conducted mainly by Trans- meridian Air Cargo and Donaldson International Airways. The United States is represented in the passenger charter field by World Airways, Trans International