TNAG-1062-FCO40-1312-Replacement-airport-for-Hong-Kong-1981 — Page 25

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warranting serious consideration. Acting on advice from the Consultants and other Government experts, the Steering Committee convened for the programme selected the site at Chek Lap Kok for additional study. The Consultants found it capable of supporting a major international airport, and preliminarily determined that a financially sound implementation programme could be devised. Other alternatives examined produced either significant social or economic penalties or were not cost effective. The Consultants concluded their report with a recommendation that the Hong Kong Government de- velop a specific plan to provide a replacement airport for Hong Kong.

The reports were delivered during the environment of the 1975 oil embargo and the corollary shortfalls in aviation fuel. Air traffic growth appeared to be diminish- ing throughout the world. At that time, there was uncertainty about the probable continuation of rapid growth in air traffic - or if any growth could be expected. But the growth in air traffic did resume in the late 1970s and then generally surpassed the rates of growth experi- enced during the late 1960s and early 1970s. The CAD's latest review of air traffic growth confirmed that Kai Tak would probably reach saturation during the 1980s, although perhaps 2 to 3 years later than had been indicated in the long-term study. It became evident that an additional study was needed to define the requirements and develop decision criteria to measure the need and timing for a replacement airport implementation program. A study plan was devised and the Consultants were selected to develop the information.

The potential for North Lantau's development and the interrelated study of the feasibility of a fixed crossing from the mainland to Lantau Island impinged on the viability of an airport at the selected site. The Public Works Department (PWD) conducted a civil engineering study of the feasibility of forming land along the North Lantau coast and at Chek Lap Kok Island; concurrently, the Royal Observatory conducted a related oceanographic study and began collecting meteorological data for the site. However, the PWD land studies for airport develop- ment at Chek Lap Kok were based on the 1975 report. These long-term studies were limited to an application of a simple airport planning model to the selected site to define a schematic layout (Figure 1). The Consultants' Brief for the 1973-1975 study did not include a thorough development of an airport layout at the selected site. It had been intended that the plan should include only sufficient data to produce a preliminary investigation of constructibility and costs. Therefore, for the current studies, the Director of Civil Aviation presented a programme to engage consultants to develop a pilot airport scheme showing a configuration of runways, approach zones, and boundaries within which all airport facilities and functions could be located.

This was to be a limited study in that a decision to continue with further planning for a replacement airport would not require a complete Master Plan effort to optimize configuration of runways, taxiways, facility locations or other aspects of the airport configuration. Consultants were charged to develop a layout that