Hong Kong’s airport extension project will be finished on time, city’s No 2 official Eric Chan vows
- New three-runway system will be completed this year, Chief Secretary Eric Chan insists
- Transport officials say suggestions project faced delays are ‘groundless’
Chief Secretary Eric Chan Kwok-ki said that plans to expand and improve airport facilities were a major goal of the administration.
“As we return to normality after the pandemic, we are striving to increase the capacity of Hong Kong International Airport while continuing to build an ‘airport city’ at full speed,” he added. “Among our plans, we expect to complete the airport’s three-runway system this year.”
The airport’s HK$141.5 billion (US$18 billion) expansion project started in 2016 and includes a new 3.8km (2.3 mile) runway that came into service in 2022, a second terminal building opposite the present one, as well as another concourse.
Chan said the 650 hectare (1,606 acre) project would increase airport capacity by 50 per cent, seen as key to the development of Hong Kong and the south of mainland China.
But he said the work was more complicated than just tacking on a new runway.
“Don’t think that the three-runway system is just as simple as building one runway,” Chan added. “In fact, it is almost like building one more airport.”
He was speaking after media reports that the project had suffered delays, claiming part of the second terminal development was postponed until 2025 and that the new concourse would not be ready until 2026.
