TRANSPORT
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During the year, these airlines operated about 900 direct round trip services weekly between Hong Kong and some 80 other cities. In addition to the scheduled services, an average of 250 non-scheduled flights were operated by both scheduled and non-scheduled airlines each week.
In accordance with the relevant provisions of the Sino-British Joint Declaration, the process of separating Hong Kong's Air Service Agreements from those of the United Kingdom continued. Three more agreements were signed during the year; the sixth Hong Kong Air Service Agreement, which was concluded between the Government of Hong Kong and Government of New Zealand, was signed in Hong Kong on February 22; the seventh agreement concluded by Hong Kong with the Government of Malaysia was signed in Kuala Lumpur on March 4, and the eighth agreement by Hong Kong and the Government of Brazil was signed on September 6.
In 1991, the Air Transport Licensing Authority granted one licence to Cathay Pacific Airways. As at December 31, Cathay Pacific Airways held licences to operate scheduled services to 62 cities in 32 countries, Dragonair was licensed to serve 52 cities in 11 countries and Air Hong Kong was licensed to operate scheduled all-cargo services to 17 cities in 12 countries.
The Provisional Airport Authority
The Provisional Airport Authority (PAA) was established in April 1990 to oversee the planning, design and construction of a replacement airport at Chek Lap Kok. It is due to be replaced by the Airport Authority in 1992.
The airport will be located on a 1250-hectare ‘airport island' off the northern shore of Lantau which will be formed primarily by levelling the islands of Chek Lap Kok and Lam Chau and by using the excavated materials and marine sand fill for reclamation. To prepare an advanced works area of about 30 hectares on Chek Lap Kok to facilitate the commencement of the main site preparation work, the authority awarded an advanced works contract in February 1991. The work will be completed early in 1992. Tenders for the main site preparation contract were invited in November 1991 with a view to awarding the contract in May 1992.
It is planned to commission the airport in 1997, initially with one runway and the capacity to handle 35 million passengers and 1.5 million tonnes of cargo a year. A second runway and further terminal facilities will be phased into operation in accordance with air traffic demand and in a cost-effective manner.
In the longer term, the new airport is planned to meet a forecast demand of 87 million passengers and up to 9 million tonnes of cargo annually by 2040. Its two parallel runways 1 525 metres apart will have the potential of being operated independently of each other. Also, because of its location, the airport will be able to operate 24 hours a day without causing any noise pollution problems for Hong Kong residents.
In July 1990, the PAA appointed consultants to develop a masterplan for the airport and this task was completed at the end of 1991. This work has involved developing engineering proposals for the formation of the airport site, establishing the length of the runways, the distance between them, the location and shape of the passenger terminal and concourses and the position of other major supporting facilities such as cargo terminals and aircraft maintenance and engineering facilities, and conducting a thorough environmental impact assessment of all these developments.