ENG-2013 — Page 282

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Transport

exchange views on regional trade flow (in particular that between ASEAN and China) and the rise of e-commerce and its impact on logistics and supply chain management.

Civil Aviation

Hong Kong is a major international and regional aviation centre. At year-end, there were more than 100 airlines providing about over 7,000 weekly scheduled services between Hong Kong and about 180 destinations worldwide.

Air Traffic in 2013

In 2013, 59.9 million passengers passed through Hong Kong International Airport (HKIA), a rise of 6.1 per cent over 2012, the airport handled 4.13 million tonnes of cargo, a rise of 2.4 per cent over 2012, and there were about over 372,080 flights to and from Hong Kong, a rise of 5.8 per cent over 2012.

Home Market Expansion

The airport continues to provide extensive land and sea connections to the Pearl River Deltal (PRD) region. In 2013, there were about 87 daily ferry trips between SkyPier and Guangzhou's Nansha, Shenzhen's Shekou and Fuyong, Dongguan's Humen, Zhongshan, Zhuhai's Jiuzhou and Macao's Maritime Ferry Terminal and Taipa. With 550 daily scheduled coach trips, passengers enjoy convenient services between the airport and about 110 PRD cities and towns. The number of cross-boundary limousines serving Mainland cities and towns daily reached 280 in 2013.

Airport Services

In October, the new Cathay Pacific Cargo Terminal started full operation with a handling capacity of 2.6 million tonnes a year, increasing the total annual capacity of the airport's cargo terminals by 50 per cent to 7.4 million tonnes.

Plans to increase aircraft parking stands in the medium term were under way. These include 20 stands in the midfield development, to be completed in 2015, and 28 stands in the apron expansion development which will be operational in 2014. More stands are being planned to meet future needs.

Preparation for Growth

To cope with the air traffic demand in the long run, the government gave in-principle approval in 2012 for the Airport Authority Hong Kong (AAHK) to adopt the three-runway system for the purposes of planning the future development of the airport. The AAHK is taking forward the necessary planning works, including the statutory environmental impact assessment (EIA), scheme designs and financing arrangements. The EIA process is expected to be completed in 2014.

Meanwhile, the AAHK has started work on the related designs of the three-runway system and has begun studying different funding options. The HKIA's planned three-runway system is expected to be able to cope with air traffic demand up to at least 2030, by which time the annual passenger and cargo throughput is forecast to increase to around 100 million and 8.9

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