EVEN ONCE ALL THIS HAS BEEN DONE, KAI TAK WILL BE OPERAT, NG AT APACITY WELL BEFORE THE NEW AIRPORT CAN OPEN,
"IN THE 12 MONTHS ENDING SEPTEMBER, BOTH PASSENGER AND ATRCRAFT MOVEMENTS HAD GROWN BY 12 PER CENT.
"IF DOUBLE-DIGIT GROWTH CONTINUES, CAPACITY AT KAI TAK WILL REACHED AS EARLY AS 1993," SHE EXPLAINED.
BE
MRS CHAN POINTED OUT THAT THERE HAD BEEN SOME
MISUNDERSTANDING
AS TO WHAT THAT WOULD MEAN.
"IT WILL NOT MEAN THAT AN AIRCRAFT WILL BE LANDING AND TAKING OFF EVERY MINUTE OF ALL THE HOURS OF OPERATION OF THE AIRPORT.
RE
"IT MEANS THAT THE TIME-SLOTS REMAINING FOR SCHEDULING AIRCRAFT WILL BE SO UNATTRACTIVE TO COMMERCIAL AIRLINES THAT THEY WILL EITHER UNABLE OR UNWILLING TO EXPAND THEIR SERVICES TO MEET DEMAND,
"THEY WILL THEN TURN TO OTHER AIRPORTS WHICH CAN OFFER MORE ATTRACTIVE TIME SLOTS THAT WOULD ENABLE THEM TO MAKE OPTIMUM USE OF THEIR AIRCRAFT AND PROVIDE A BETTER INTERFACE WITH THEIR ROUTE NETWORK, THE SECRETARY SAID.
#
THUS WHEN KAI TAK REACHED CAPACITY MRS CHAN FORESAW THAT WE WOULD LOSE POTENTIALLY NEW PASSENGER TRAFFIC AND EXPERIENCE GROWTH ONLY IN CHARTER FLIGHTS AND CARGO OPERATORS WILLING TO USE NON SOCIAL TIME SLOTS.
"THE IMPACT ON OUR ECONOMY WOULD BF CONSIDERABLE,
EMPHASISED.
SHE
MRS CHAN SAID MOST EXPERTS AGREED THAT THE ASIA PACIFIC REGION WOULD EXPERIENCE HIGHER LEVELS OF GROWTH IN AIR TRAFFIC THAN ANYWHERS ELSE IN THE WORLD IN THE COMING DECADE. OUR NEIGHBOURS AND
COMPETITORS WERE WELL AWARE OF THIS; THE SECOND TERMINAL
CHANGI AIRPORT IN SINGAPORE WAS ABOUT TO OPEN NEXT MONTH AND THE AUTHORITIES WERE ALREADY PLANNING FOR A THIRD RUNWAY, A NEW AIRPORT WAS UNDIRR CONSTRUCTION AT OSAKA, A MASSIVE NEW INTERNATIONAL AIRPORT ON AN EVEN LARGER SCALE THAN CHEK LAP KOK WAS BEING PLANNED TO SERVE SEOUL, EXTENSIVE EXPANSION OF BANGKOK AIRPORT WAS BEING PLANNED AND A SECOND PASSENGEK TERMINAL WAS TO BE COMPLETED IN JAKARTA BY 150)
AN
*FFICI
"WE CANNOT AFFORD TO LEAVE KAI TAK CONGESTED AND OPERATING ITS ULTIMATE CAPACITY, BECAUSE OF THE IMPORTANCE OF AIRPORT TO OUR ECONOMY, SHE STRESSED.
THAT
IV
IN 1989, 730,000 TONNES OF AIR CARGO PASSED THROUGH! KAT TAK HADE UP JUST UNDER 30 PER CENT OF OUR DOMESTIC ANPORTO, 20 PER CENT OF OUR IMPORTS AND OVER.16 PER CENT OF OUR RE-EXPORTS BY VALUE. ABOUT 85 PER CENT OF TOURISTS IN HONG KONG ARRIVED BY AIR.
IN 1989, RECEIPTS FROM TOURISM AMOUNTED TO NEARLY $37 BILLION, AN INCREASE OF 11 PER CENT OVER 1988. HONG KONG WAS THE MOST POPULAR TOURIST DESTINATION IN ASIA, MRS CHAN SAID.
THE INVESTMENT MADE BY THE HOTEL SECTOR ALONE IN THIS FIELD WAS HUGE. WITH AN ADDITIONAL 3,000 HOTEL ROOMS PROVIDED IN 1989, AND A FURTHER 6,500 ROOMS EXPECTED BY THE END OF 1992.
MRS CHAN POINTED OUT THAT MORE DIFFICULT TO QUANTIFY WERE THE BENEFITS DERIVED FROM THE EASE WITH WHICH BUSINESSMEN COULD COME. AND
Go.
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