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CIVIL AVIATION IN HONG kong
General view of Kai Tak Aerodrome with Kowloon hills in the background and R.A.F. installations fronting on the Ngau Chi Wan Road.
Kai Tak is by no means an ideal airport for the amount of traffic using it, its greatest drawback a lack of available space, not only for the actual landing and take-off areas but also for maintenance hangars and other essential installations.
The development of Hong Kong as an aviation centre of international importance falls mainly into three phases, the early pioneering days, the linking of Hong Kong with the international air-trunk routes, and the post-war phase of rapid expansion.
Pioneering
The first recorded flight in Hong Kong was the ascent of a balloon in 1909 but civil aviation began with the construe-
tion of Kai Tak aerodrome partly on reclaimed land about four miles to the north east of Kowloon in 1930. Most of the flying at this time was done by the Hong Kong Flying Club, a Club sponsored by Government which trained pilots with the object of forming an Air Arm to the H.K.V.D.C. In spite of the primitive nature of the airfield and its navigational aids, Kai Tak was also used by a number of people engaged in long distance and round the world flights, feats of no small magnitude in those days of unreliable aeroplanes. Some measure of the importance accorded to flying may be obtained from the fact that in 1932 the Colony's annual expenditure on Air Services, exclusive of the salary of the Director of Air Services who was jointly Harbourmaster, was $11,545 as against $762,169 in the financial year 1948 9. The revenue in 1931 was $40.
The Full comparative statement of expenditure and revenue for the year 1930 to 1946 47 is as follows
Year
Personal Emoluments and Special
Total Other Charges Expenditure Expenditure
Total Revenue
BUNWAY
NULLAN
NOOTMOX
500
500
BAY
1000
1500 YARDS
1500 METRES
1000
1930
$33,896.70
$60,000.00
$93,896.70
1931
26,691.12
26,691.12
$40.00
1932
11,457.04
88.81
11,545.85
14,344.00
1933
13,899.75
13,899.75
6,850.00
1934
40,191.51
10,765.85
50,957.36
10,265.00
1935
52,891.10
10,708.69
63,599.79
7,411.10
1936
40,562.50
741.08
41,303.58
12,001.60
1937
50,648.47
1,281.69
51,930.16
25,921.70
1938
69,163.01
31,975.37
101,138.38
63,825.20
1939
84,271.18
15,913.73
100,184.91
50,633.58
1946/47 74,937.50
75,599.15
98,552.71
The Early Air Routes
By 1935 Imperial Airways were running an air service between the United Kingdom, Singapore and Australia and made a series of experimental flights with a view to connecting Hong Kong to its trunk route at Penang, This route was opened as a weekly service on 24th March, 1936, with DH 86 aircraft, which, during the remaining part of the year made 84 trips and carried 77 passengers and 9.3 tons of mail and freight.
Later in the year the China National Aviation Corpora- tion extended their service from Shanghai to Canton to include Hong Kong in a thrice-weekly service which operated from Shanghai via Swatow, Amoy, Foochow, Wenchow and Hong Kong to Canton. In the two months of November and December 1936, this Corporation made 106 trips carrying 171 passengers and half a ton of mail and freight.
These two companies were quickly followed by the Eurasia Corporation, now known as Central Air Transport Corporation, and by Pan American Airways who operated a Clipper flying boat service to San Francisco. These companies soon realised the traffic potentialities in this area and were compelled to change the size of their aircraft carrying up to 40 passengers.
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