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agreement with business partners to build a second airport hotel. The new five-star airport hotel with 1 000 rooms will provide travellers, tourists and exhibition visitors with a perfect place to unwind.
Meanwhile, several major projects were completed in 2006. SkyPlaza, a multi- purpose development comprising a new departure hall, airline check-in counters, ground transportation facilities and retail and office space, is ready for occupation in phases from early 2007. Hong Kong Aircraft Engineering Co Ltd's second hangar at HKIA is now in operation and can accommodate two wide-bodied and one smaller aircraft at the same time. The Asia Airfreight Terminal completed its Terminal 2 in December 2006, bringing its annual cargo handling capacity from 600 000 tonnes to 1.5 million tonnes. The giant A380 aircraft landed at HKIA for the first time on November 18, 2006 after the completion of related taxiways and parking stands enhancement works.
Air Services
Under the specific authorisation of the Central People's Government, the HKSAR Government continues to negotiate and conclude bilateral air services agreements with aviation partners, providing the legal framework for scheduled air services between Hong Kong and other places. During the year, the Government concluded new air services agreements with Ethiopia, Mexico and Kazakhstan bringing the total to 58 agreements.
The Government also reviews actively the traffic rights arrangements with its partners to expand Hong Kong's aviation network and to introduce more competition into the market. In 2006, the Government expanded traffic arrangements with six. aviation partners, including fully liberalising bilateral air services between Hong Kong and Brunei, Jordan, and the United Arab Emirates.
During the year, the Air Transport Licensing Authority (ATLA) granted seven licences: one to Cathay Pacific Airways (CPA), one to Hong Kong Dragon Airlines (HDA), two to AHK Air Hong Kong (AHK) and three to Hong Kong Express Airways (HKE). The Procedural Guide on ATLA's procedures for processing licence applications is available on: www.edlb.gov.hk/edb/eng/related/Guide-eng-final.pdf.
Cathay Pacific Airways (CPA) celebrated its 60th anniversary in September 2006. CPA also completed its shareholding realignment with relevant parties which made Hong Kong Dragon Airlines (HDA) a wholly owned subsidiary of the airline. CPA commenced codeshare arrangements with British Airways Comair to the cities of Cape Town, Durban and Port Elizabeth in South Africa in August. It also started to codeshare with HDA flights to six destinations, namely, Beijing, Kota Kinabalu, Phuket, Shanghai, Tokyo and Xiamen in September. In December, the airline resumed its passenger services to Shanghai. During the year, the airline took delivery of one Boeing B777-300 and one Airbus A330-300 aircraft, the latter being the 100th aircraft of the airline fleet. As for freighter services, the airline launched new services to Chennai in June, commenced services to Stockholm and Toronto in September and Beijing in November. During the year, two Boeing B747-400 BCF freighters under the