Airport Authority Hong Kong (AAHK) said on March 20 it welcomed the Hong Kong government’s approval of the three-runway option as the future development direction for Hong Kong International Airport (HKIA).
The government has also approved AAHK’s recommendation to proceed with the statutory Environmental Impact Assessment (EIA) process and the preparation of the associated design details of the facilities under a three-runway system.
The findings of a three-month public consultation on the HKIA Master Plan 2030 that took place last summer revealed that 73 percent of respondents to the quantitative survey preferred the three-runway option.
After thoroughly considering the results of the public consultation exercise, the Board of the AAHK recommended to the government in December 2011 the adoption of the three-runway system as HKIA’s development direction.
“Our airport’s future development into a three-runway system is crucial if we are to maintain Hong Kong’s status as a leading international and regional aviation centre,” said Dr. Marvin Cheung Kin-tung, chairman of AAHK.
Noting that the planning and development of the airport infrastructure is complex and time-consuming, Dr. Cheung said they will immediately embark upon a three-phase process of project planning, approval, and implementation.
“Only after all of these have been done successfully can we proceed to seek Government’s approval for the third runway project. It will take about three years, subject to the granting of all required approvals, before we can start building the third runway and its associated facilities,” added Dr Cheung.
