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for helicopters up to three tonnes. The AA also announced on November 3 that it would maintain the 15 per cent reduction in aircraft landing and parking charges for the 2001-02 financial year and that it planned to introduce an incentive arrangement, under which airlines would enjoy a rebate on landing charges for services operated to a new destination (a 50 per cent rebate in the first year of operation and 25 per cent in the second year). During the year the AA was accorded an A+ corporate credit (local currency) rating and an A foreign currency rating by the Standard and Poor's ratings service. The HKIA is the first airport in Asia to receive an international credit rating.
Future Airport Developments
The HKIA is well placed to continue to be a major centre of international and regional aviation. The opening of the Hong Kong Disneyland in 2005 and China's accession to the World Trade Organisation are expected to boost air traffic in the Asia-Pacific region. The AA's forecast is that passenger throughput, cargo throughput and aircraft movements at the HKIA will continue to grow at healthy levels in the coming years. The AA is undertaking a Strategic Overview of Major Airport Developments (SOMAD) Study, which would act as the blueprint for growth as the HKIA progresses towards its ultimate design capacity in the long term, forecast to be 87 million passengers and nine million tonnes of air cargo per year.
The SOMAD Study will formulate a long-term airport land use and development strategy. It will help determine the appropriate time-frame, location and capacity for major developments, such as a second passenger terminal complex and additional cargo handling facilities. The SOMAD Study is expected to be completed in the second half of 2001.
In parallel, studies are under way for the 'airport city' project to be developed in the North Commercial District of the airport. This will include facilities such as hotels, commercial offices and recreational complexes.
Air Services
In 2000, the Air Transport Licensing Authority granted six licences: three to Cathay Pacific Airways (CPA), one to Hong Kong Dragon Airlines (HDA) and two to Air Hong Kong (AHK). At the end of the year, CPA held 10 licences to operate scheduled services to 128 cities, HDA held 10 licences to operate scheduled services to 104 cities and AHK held six licences to operate scheduled services to 38 cities.
CPA launched its new scheduled passenger services to Karachi and introduced new freighter services to three destinations (New Delhi, Penang and San Francisco) in September. At the end of the year, CPA operated scheduled services to 47 destinations world-wide.
The year marked a major development for HDA. The Mainland/Hong Kong Air Services Arrangement signed on February 2 allowed HDA to further expand its services to the Mainland and to convert its non-scheduled services to scheduled services. Subsequently, HDA converted its non-scheduled services to Changsha, Guilin, Haikou, Nanjing and Wuhan to scheduled services in March and launched scheduled services to Sanya in June. HDA also started operating non-scheduled all- cargo services to Shanghai in August. Furthermore, HDA introduced scheduled all- cargo services to Dubai, Amsterdam and Manchester in July, which was a milestone in the development of HDA's services as the airline previously operated only