Transport 281
Civil Aviation
Hong Kong is a major international and regional aviation centre. At year-end, there were more than 105 airlines providing about 6 300 weekly scheduled services between Hong Kong and more than 160 cities worldwide. In addition, there were, on average, about 170 charter flights each week.
Air Traffic in 2011
The total number of passengers passing through Hong Kong International Airport (HKIA) during the year was 52.75 million, a rise of 6 per cent over 2010. The airport handled 3.94 million tonnes of cargo, a decrease of 4.6 per cent over 2010. The number of flights to and from Hong Kong was 333 805, a rise of 8.9 per cent over 2010.
Hong Kong's total imports, domestic exports and re-exports carried by air accounted for 39 per cent, 30.3 per cent and 33.6 per cent respectively in value terms in 2011.
Home Market Expansion
As a multi-modal transport centre, the airport continues to expand its extensive land and sea connections to the Pearl River Delta (PRD) region.
In 2011 there were over 90 daily ferry trips between SkyPier and Nansha, Shenzhen's Shekou and Fuyong, Dongguan's Humen, Zhongshan, Zhuhai's Jiuzhou and Macao's Maritime Ferry Terminal and Taipa.
With 460 daily scheduled coach trips, passengers enjoy convenient services between the airport and 115 destinations not only in Guangdong, but also in Guangxi and Fujian provinces. The number of cross-boundary trips limousines serving PRD cities and towns reached 290.
Airport Services
Scheduled to open in early 2013, the new air cargo terminal operated by Cathay Pacific will feature a $1.4 billion cargo handling system. The new facility will increase the airport's total annual capacity by 50 per cent to 7.4 million tonnes.
A third hangar for business aviation will be built to cater for the sector's robust growth. The new hangar occupies an area of approximately 5 000 square metres, and is expected to become operational in 2012.
The phase 1 development of HKIA's midfield has begun. The project includes a new passenger concourse and 20 aircraft stands, a cross-field taxiway and an extension of the automated people mover that will link the Midfield Concourse to Terminal 1.
Preparation for Growth
For long-term development, the Airport Authority Hong Kong completed a three-month public consultation on the HKIA Master Plan 2030 in September 2011. The master plan outlined two development options: maintaining the existing two- runway system, and expanding into a three-runway system.