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COMMUNICATIONS AND TRANSPORT
Airlines and Pan American World Airways. The biggest operators of passenger charter flights in Asia are All Nippon Airways and Japan Air Lines Company. These inex- pensive flights are proving increasingly popular, especially during overseas school and university holiday periods when thousands of students, primarily Chinese, return to Hong Kong.
The airport terminal facilities provide a full range of services-bars, restaurants, shopping arcades, and banking and money changing services. Duty free shops and a nursery are available for passengers. These facilities are provided by private concerns operating under franchise. This income contributes substantially to the economic viability of the airport.
Members of the public interested in flying are catered for by two private clubs at the airport. In addition to flying training, both clubs provide some amenities.
The Civil Aviation Department manages and operates the airport. It is also responsible for the provision of air traffic control and search and rescue facilities for all aircraft operating in the Hong Kong Flight Information Region, an area of some 100,000 square miles over the South China Sea. An extensive telecommunications network provides speedy and reliable links with the major aviation centres in Asia. An aeronautical information service ensures timely distribution of essential informa- tion to the aviation world, and aviation meteorological services are provided in conjunction with the Royal Observatory.
Radio and navigational aids provided meet the most stringent international standards, and are supplemented or updated as necessary. These aids currently include three surveillance radars, an instrument landing system, distance measuring equip- ment, VHF omni-directional range, non-directional beacons and precision approach radar. An instrument guidance system for runway 13 will become operational in early 1974 and a sophisticated secondary surveillance radar system in 1975. The runway was being extended by 2,780 feet to 11,130 feet during 1973.
Civil aviation is a dynamic and demanding industry, and although the airport in Hong Kong is continually being developed and improved, there is little or no space for expansion. Therefore, the government has commissioned a study of the situation as it is likely to develop over the years ahead. The study will be completed in 1974.
Roads
To keep pace with rapid social and economic progress and to meet the demands of ever increasing road traffic, the highways office of the Public Works Department continued with its extensive programme of road construction and improvements. Heavy maintenance work was particularly aggravated by the exceptional rainstorms in 1972 and the long wet season in 1973. During the year $125.7 million was spent on major highway projects, $8.7 million on road improvements and $33.8 million on maintenance and the repair of rainstorm damage.
The total mileage of roads in Hong Kong maintained by the government now stands at 637.30, of which 208.02 miles are on Hong Kong Island, 190.62 in Kowloon and 238.66 in the New Territories.