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3rd runway bad idea

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三跑注定白象工程
(時事評論員 黎則奮)

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· 適中字型

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■機管局以提升香港國際機場競爭力為由,建議興建第三條跑道,引來批評不斷。資料圖片

八十年代初期,香港前途問題湧現後,英國開始部署撤退。非殖民地化成為政策核心,其中公共部門私營化,引入商業運作模式,自成體系獨立管理,是大勢所趨,由是港式國企紛紛湧現,機管局、港鐵等都是箇中表表者。
凡事有利有弊,港式國企亦不例外。引入商業運作模式,按照經濟規律辦事,固然可以大大提高效率,但亦容易滋生既得利益階層。這些官僚機構公開宣稱的功能(manifest function),很多時都名不副實,實際功能(latent function)才始見真章。好大喜功是這些官僚機構領導層的通病,因為他們只有通過不斷擴大規模,形成壟斷格局,爭取更多公共資源,才可從中得益。
最近機管局以提升香港國際機場競爭力為由,建議興建第三條跑道,便是一個最佳例證。
表面上,香港是亞太區最重要的航空樞紐,網絡遍及全球,空運更是本港至今仍然極具領先優勢的行業,班次和航線都非大陸其他城市可比,對以商貿、物流運輸、金融、旅遊為主要經濟骨幹的香港來說,可謂舉足輕重。機管局揚言目前兩條跑道的容量已經飽和,要提升競爭力,就要興建第三條跑道,增加升降班次,以免流失客貨量,為鄰近地區的競爭對手取替。
但實際的情況真的是這樣嗎?
香港國際機場興建之初,已經設計每小時跑道升降量為75架次,但現時要至2015年才可達至68架次,顯然未充份利用兩條跑道應有的容量。2010年,鄭汝樺曾經聘請海外專家評估,結論是只要改善程序和增加適當人手,機場容量即時可增至72班次,但民航處處長羅崇文卻以安全、設施和人手不足為由,堅持機場跑道容量每年只能增加兩班。
所謂安全問題,民航處最初的理由是空域擠塞,其後卻被中央有關部門糾正有關說法。事實上,2004年已與國家民航局空管局達成共識,容許香港國際機場北面空域升降飛機,但羅崇文卻推翻協議,以致現時機場只能用北跑道作降落,南跑道作起飛。可見班次不能增加,全是人為所致。
民航處又以機場附近多山和地形安全為由,表示不宜增加每小時升降班次,以免發生意外。但地形是客觀存在的條件,興建第三條跑道後亦不會更變,試問又如何可以成為支持興建新跑道的合理依據?
人手方面,所謂不足也是人為所致。目前香港只聘用自己訓練的空管人才,但培育需時,只能以增加員工勞動量和強度來應付不斷上升的班次,因而容易導致工作過勞效率下降萌生意外的危險。當務之急應是向國際招聘人才,但民航處卻墨守成規,明顯非不能也,實不為也。
設施方面,不是跑道和容量不足,而是停機坪不足,以致本港機場無法容納更多飛機停泊,直接影響乘客和貨物運載效率。因此,與其興建第三條跑道,倒不如興建第三座客運大樓,增加停機泊位,從而方便和提升處理客貨運載效率。
香港當然需要發展,但好大喜功的瞎搞,不但勞民傷財,還對環境造成不必要破壞,徒添社會爭端。在興建第三條跑道之前應該物盡其用,用盡一切方法增加目前兩條跑道的容量;否則大興土木,只會徒勞無功,第三條跑道注定成為中看不中用的白象工程。

黎則奮
時事評論員

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黎則奮

Apple Daily

http://hk.apple.nextmedia.com/news/art/20130826/18394936

Google Translation

The early 1980s, after the emergence of Hong Kong’s future, the British began to deploy retreat. Become a core policy of decolonization, including the privatization of the public sector, the introduction of commercial operation mode, self-contained independent management, is the trend, by the Hong Kong-style state-owned enterprises have emerged, AA, MTR, etc. are 箇中 exemplar.
Everything pros and cons, Hong Kong-style state-owned enterprises are no exception. Introduction of commercial mode of operation, in accordance with economic laws, of course, can greatly improve efficiency, but also easy to breed vested interests. These bureaucracies avowed functions (manifest function), has often a misnomer, the actual function (latent function) before the beginning of pinpointing. Grandiose bureaucratic leadership of these common problem, because they are only by expanding the scale, a monopolistic situation to attract more public resources, can benefit from it.
AA recently to enhance the competitiveness of Hong Kong International Airport , the proposed construction of a third runway is an excellent example.
On the surface, Hong Kong is the region’s most important aviation hub, the network throughout the world, air is still very leading edge of our industry, frequency and route other mainland cities are non-comparable, for commerce and trade, transport and logistics, finance, tourism as the main backbone of the economy of Hong Kong, can be described as decisive. AA threatened the capacity of the current two runways already saturated, to enhance competitiveness, it is necessary to build a third runway, increasing lift frequency, in order to avoid the loss of passenger and cargo volume, the neighborhood competitors replaced.
But the reality is it really?
Hong Kong International Airport at the beginning, has been designed hourly runway capacity of 75 movements, but now only up to 2015, to 68 movements, apparently did not take advantage of two runways proper capacity. 2010, Ms Cheng was hired foreign experts to assess, the conclusion is appropriate as long as the process improvement and increasing manpower, airport capacity can be increased to 72 real-time movements , but Civil Aviation’s Norman Lo, but in a safe, understaffed facilities and grounds, insist airport runway can only increase the annual capacity of two classes.
The so-called security issues, the initial reason for the Civil Aviation Department is congested airspace and subsequently been central departments to rectify the argument. In fact, 2004 has reached a consensus with the National Civil Aviation Air Traffic Control to allow airspace north of Hong Kong International Airport landing planes, but Mr Lo was overthrown agreement that the existing airport can only use the north runway for landing, south runway for takeoff. Visible frequency cannot be increased, all caused by people.
Civil Aviation Department and Youyi mountainous terrain near the airport, citing security concerns, which means that should increase the hourly lift frequency, to avoid accidents. But the terrain is an objective condition, after the construction of a third runway will not be more variable, how can they support the construction of a new runway could be a reasonable basis?
Manpower, the so-called shortage is caused by man. Hong Kong is only employ trained himself ATC talent, but needs nurturing, only to increase the volume and intensity of labor staff to cope with increasing frequency, which can easily lead to overwork the risk of accidental initiation reduced efficiency. Priority should be to inform the international recruitment of talent, but the Civil Aviation Department was legalistic, obviously not incapable real not do so.
Facilities, not the runway and the lack of capacity, but the apron inadequate local airport can not accommodate more aircraft parking, a direct impact on passengers and cargo load efficiency. Therefore, instead of building a third runway, it would be better to build a third passenger terminal, increasing downtime berth, so as to facilitate and enhance the efficiency of processing passengers and cargo carried.
Hong Kong, of course, need development, but grandiose messing around, not only costly, but also cause unnecessary damage to the environment, just adding to social disputes. Before the construction of a third runway should be fully utilized, by all means to increase the current capacity of the two runways; otherwise massive construction projects, will be in vain, a third runway is destined to become a white elephant project impractical.

Li Fen
Commentators

UPDATE: 3rd runway education trip to Toulouse 28 business class freebies + hotels

Download PDF : UPDATE

Activist puts case for artificial beach review

Published on South China Morning Post (http://www.scmp.com)

Home > Activist puts case for artificial beach review


Activist puts case for artificial beach review

Tuesday, 13 August, 2013, 12:00am

News›Hong Kong

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Ho Loy (centre) with other alliance members. Photo: David Wong

COURTS

Austin Chiu austin.chiu@scmp.com

Save Lung Mei Alliance member asks High Court to scrutinise government decision on project

A green activist has asked the High Court to adopt “heightened scrutiny” of a government decision to build a beach in Tai Po that she says is likely to endanger the life of a rare seahorse.

Ho Loy is seeking leave for a judicial review in order to halt the artificial beach project at Lung Mei, where spotted seahorses, classified as vulnerable by the International Union for Conservation of Nature, have been seen.

Ho, a member of the Save Lung Mei Alliance, complained that the director of the Environmental Protection Department and the Chief Executive in Council failed to exercise their discretion to suspend or cancel an environmental permit granted to the department after the sightings were recorded. Nicholas Cooney SC, for Ho, said the court should adopt heightened scrutiny of the government decision because this case involved “the most worthwhile goal” of protecting the ecology.

Cooney compared the case to a high-profile judicial review mounted by Victoria Harbour conservationists against controversial Central reclamation in 2004.

When the department applied for the permit in 2010, it provided “misleading, wrong, incomplete or false” information, he said. He noted spotted seahorses were first seen at Lung Mei in 2009, a year after approval of an environmental impact assessment report on the project.

The report was flawed, however, because a study had found the rare species existed in waters nearby, he said. This meant an assessment of the impact on the seahorse should have been done at Lung Mei even though there was no sighting of it at that time.

The report said Lung Mei had “mainly low-quality habitats” that did not appear to be “critical or unique habitats for species of conservation importance”, nor did it support significant populations of such species.

The court heard that the Agriculture, Fisheries and Conservation Department recorded two sightings of spotted seahorses at Lung Mei this year and 27 sightings in four other locations along Tolo Harbour.

“Now we know the seahorses are at Lung Mei, there is or likely to be prejudice to their health and well-being,” Cooney said.

Benjamin Yu SC, for the EPD director, said it was too late for Ho to challenge the report and the permit, which should have been challenged by 2010.

“It cannot be open to the applicant [Ho] to argue that there was information insufficiency at the time of the granting of the environmental permit. There is a time limit,” Yu said.

He said the report did not include inaccurate information because “there was no statement that there will not be species of conservation importance in the future”.

Yu also pointed to evidence from the agriculture department that the biodiversity and number of species found at Lung Mei had not changed significantly since the report was issued in 2008.

Mr Justice Thomas Au Hing-cheung, of the Court of First Instance, reserved his decision.

Outside court, Ho said she obtained legal aid on Friday. The alliance had raised HK$160,000 from the public since it voiced concerns that she might not be able to secure legal aid.

Topics:

Lung Mei beach


Source URL (retrieved on Aug 13th 2013, 9:40am): http://www.scmp.com/news/hong-kong/article/1296216/activist-puts-case-artificial-beach-review

Airport suffers under rival masters

Letters to the Editor, August 10, 2013

Saturday, 10 August, 2013, 12:00am

Comment› Letters

Airport suffers under rival masters

I refer to the letter by Keith Moran (“Air-traffic controllers the key element [4]“, July 27) which refers to Albert Cheng King-hon’s column (“Hong Kong must exhaust all other options before building third runway [5]“, July 19).

They both showed there is no genuine need for a third runway at Hong Kong airport, but there must be more efficient take-offs and landings.

The present problem is created by the fact that the Civil Aviation Department operates flight movements while the airport property is run by the Airport Authority. It has dual roles as property developer and property management company.

As a property developer and management company, the more property the authority holds the better, as it can also collect more rent. But unlike a genuine developer, developments are all financed by taxpayers and airport users, while the so-called profits are credited to the authority. And being a typical government department, the Civil Aviation Department is not interested in creating more work for its staff, which by its own standards are already overworked.

The department and authority will never work together because they have different vested interests, one in doing as little as possible and the latter empire-building and paying airport staff high salaries. They will not work together unless forced to.

This can only be achieved by having a government think tank do an independent study. This is necessary as studies for more developments at the airport have been financed or sponsored by the authority. Without an independent review, billions in public money will again be wasted, which is what happened with the building of Terminal 2.

It is full of empty restaurants which serve as airport staff canteens, and shops for staff and Tung Chung residents, all built with taxpayers’ money.

The authority’s overstaffing and high salaries must also come under the spotlight.

Dora Li, Admiralty



Links:

[4] http://www.scmp.com/comment/letters/article/1291662/letters-editor-july-27-2013
[5] http://www.scmp.com/comment/insight-opinion/article/1285499/hong-kong-must-exhaust-all-other-options-building-third

Lung Mei activist confident on judicial review for artificial beach plan

Thursday, 08 August, 2013, 3:35pm

News›Hong Kong

ENVIRONMENT

Ernest Kao ernest.kao@scmp.com

The first hearing for a judicial review request over the government’s decision to allow an artificial beach near Tai Po is to begin as early as Monday morning, says an activist group.

Ho Loy, a member of Save Lung Mei Alliance who is asking the court to stop beach construction, had applied for leave for judicial review at the High Court in June on grounds of a flawed environmental impact assessment by the government.

“We are very confident that the court will grant leave to us as all our indications have been based on pure science and fact,” said Ho, who is filing the request under her name. “I am sure the court will make a fair and impartial judgment.”

Ho, whose separate application for legal aid has yet to be approved, said she expected the legal campaign to be prolonged but “winnable” and expected initial legal fees to be upwards of about HK$200,000. She said she did not expect a result until after September.

“We had intended to push for a later court date, but lawyers from the opposition refused and we are now being forced to appear before court next week,” Ho said. “If the court case takes longer, we do expect legal fees to increase…possibly to about HK$1 million or more.”

The alliance on Thursday called on supporters to donate HK$300 each for the legal campaign. It said it hoped to gather at least 1,000 donations.

https://www.scmp.com/sites/default/files/styles/236w/public/2013/08/08/photo_2.jpg?itok=cNodsFbj

Ho is also asking the court to order new environmental assessments for the project, which began in June. The assessments would evaluate measures to protect nearly 200 marine species said to inhabit the site, including the rare Hippocampus kuda species of spotted seahorse.

A 200-metre artificial beach is to be built on the site for HK$200 million.

But a marine and ecological impact assessment by the Civil Engineering and Development Department in 2006 concluded that Lung Mei “contained mainly low-quality habitats”. The assessment was commissioned by the Environmental Protection Department.

“The environmental assessments were not serious, not to mention the huge amount of conflict of interest,” said Roy Tam Hoi-ping of Green Sense. “Impact assessments paid for by the government or by developers can never be conducted independently.”

Alliance member Paul Zimmerman said: “If we cannot raise enough money then Loy will have to make the decision whether she wants to continue or not… but this will be better judged after the first court hearings and when the legal aid application has been completed.”

Topics:

Lung Mei beach



Source URL (retrieved on Aug 8th 2013, 5:55pm): http://www.scmp.com/news/hong-kong/article/1295254/lung-mei-activist-confident-judicial-review-artificial-beach-plan

`Best site’ for sewage works found

http://thestandard.com.hk/news_print.asp?art_id=136182&sid=40071694

A rock cavern in eastern Sha Tin is the “best site” for relocation of the Sha Tin Sewage Treatment Works, the secretary for development said.

Monday, August 05, 2013

A rock cavern in eastern Sha Tin is the “best site” for relocation of the Sha Tin Sewage Treatment Works, the secretary for development said.

Paul Chan Mo-po wrote in his blog that a consultant “confirmed Nui Po Shan of A Kung Kok as the best site compared to four other possible sites for relocation after considering geology, the impacts on the existing sewage system, land ownership, traffic and environmental impacts.”

The government is conducting a consultation on the development of caverns as a way to release more land.

Chan said 72 percent of those surveyed believed that the relocation to a cavern can improve the community environment, especially in eradicating odor and improving its image.

He also said the extra land in Sha Tin after the relocation can be used for building flats and recreational facilities. The treatment works occupies 28 hectares.

“If the relocation is implemented, it is expected to be completed in 2027,” Chan said. “We will conduct detailed land- use planning and carry out technology and impact assessment.”

ASHLEY WU

Viable waste management plan snubbed

dynamco Aug 5th 2013 7:42am

‘Complexity of Airspace’
“This is not possible in Hong Kong for political reasons. Five or more competing national interests and four nearby airfields govern our operations. A1, the major air route running along the coast of China, is considered the busiest on the planet. It is a two-way route unlike any busy motorway that separates traffic.’

So having a 3rd HKG runway would only exacerbate A1 & as the writer states, there are competing national interests, whose military control 80% of China’s airspace for military use & Chinese airports in PRD (which operate 24 hours a day unlike HKG) are adding more runways already. In the past 10 years the number of aircraft carrying 150 pax have proliferated from & into HKG versus wide body jets with 300 pax so more aircraft movements are moving less pax per movement.

South China Morning Post

Published on South China Morning Post (http://www.scmp.com)

Home > Letters to the Editor, August 5, 2013



Letters to the Editor, August 5, 2013

Monday, 05 August, 2013, 12:00am

Comment› Letters

Viable waste management plan snubbed

The government’s waste management policies and plans, or to be more correct the long-standing deficiency of them, has fired many well-considered letters to these columns. In particular, the Environmental Protection Department’s dogged intention to locate a massive offshore waste incinerator on Shek Kwu Chau has been the source of bitter criticism. These columns have also been addressed several times by an executive director of Green Island Cement (Holdings), offering a time- and cost-effective plan at a more convenient location. The department has never responded to these letters, and thus gives the impression that it does not welcome any private sector initiative in waste management – perhaps it prefers to waste public funds? The only comprehensible reason for the selection of Shek Kwu Chau appears to be that it avoids a hostile reaction from vested landed interests if a more logical site in the New Territories was chosen. Green Island Cement is a wholly-owned subsidiary of Cheung Kong Infrastructure Holdings, and according to the company profile, the group is aggressively seeking business opportunities in environmental development. Those New Territories interests must be powerful indeed if they can cause the government to knock back the interests of Li Ka-shing.

In your editorial (“Rumblings in an empire affect all [1]“, July 25) you muse that perceptions “are rife that the tycoon is not in favour with the government, prompting speculation that politics is at play and a push is on to exit our city”. As if on cue, I read (“CKI eager to enter new industries as profit grows [2]“, July 26) where Cheung Kong Infrastructure has made two major overseas acquisitions – a waste management firm in New Zealand, and a stake in the largest producer of electricity by burning waste in the Netherlands. While I generally think that Li Ka-shing’s footprint has grown too large for the public good in Hong Kong’s confined economy, I believe that in the waste management sector we urgently need all the help we can get. It is a sad day for the city if our most successful businessman is investing in waste management overseas because the government is stymieing private enterprise here in Hong Kong.

Frank Lee, Mid-Levels

Overlooking complexity of airspace

Due to the geographic location of Chek Lap Kok airport, the justification for the third runway is undoubtedly a complex exercise.

Keith Moran’s assertion that the key element to efficiency is air-traffic control comes from a common lack of understanding (“Air-traffic controllers the key element [3]“, July 27). A superficial comparison with Heathrow does nothing but harm the reputation and dedication of Hong Kong’s air-traffic controllers.

It overlooks the complexity of airspace, impact of terrain, lack of centralised flow control, single departure tracks, inability to turn traffic operating from the southern runway and the impact of weather through our two extremely narrow arrival corridors.

New York is similar in complexity to Hong Kong with the close proximity of busy airports. However, by being controlled and regulated by a single authority, the entire airspace model and operations are designed to optimise and integrate aircraft movements.

This is not possible in Hong Kong for political reasons. Five or more competing national interests and four nearby airfields govern our operations. A1, the major air route running along the coast of China, is considered the busiest on the planet. It is a two-way route unlike any busy motorway that separates traffic. The complexity faced on a daily basis by our controllers managing departing and arriving traffic into and crossing this route needs to be factored into the overall performance of Chek Lap Kok.

Mr Moran’s solution was for controller training in Britain. Over the past 15 years, a large body of expats, many from the UK and US, have been primary training officers. Those methods and techniques are incorporated into our syllabus.

As a consequence of the rapid growth in air movements, the Civil Aviation Department and the Hong Kong Air Traffic Control Association have been active over the last two years with an educational programme for local airlines, providing aircrew visits and briefings.

I encourage Mr Moran and other aircrew to contact either body to obtain the facts rather than comment publicly and cloud the third runway debate. Communication and understanding between aircrew and air-traffic controllers is vital to safe operations.

Mike O’Neill, president, Hong Kong Air Traffic Control Association



Source URL (retrieved on Aug 5th 2013, 7:43am): http://www.scmp.com/comment/letters/article/1294371/letters-editor-august-5-2013

Fate of white dolphin more important

dynamco Aug 4th 2013
8:45am

ah yes the white dolphin. How many people know HK Airport Authority (HKAA) since Feb 2006 owns 55% of the company which operates Zhuhai Airport (& since 2005 49% of the company operating Hangzhou airport)? How many international destinations does Zhuhai airport have ? = Zero! only internal flights. Hence they need a means of transport to send airfreight from Zhuhai to and from HK airport = voila! = a bridge.

South China Morning Post

Published on South China Morning Post (http://www.scmp.com)

Home > Letters to the Editor, August 4, 2013



Letters to the Editor, August 4, 2013

Sunday, 04 August, 2013, 12:00am

Comment ›Letters

Fate of white dolphin more important

I am concerned about the future of Hong Kong’s beloved Chinese white dolphins.

I fear that these lovely creatures will disappear from our marine environment.

Their habitat is now being threatened by the construction of the Hong Kong-Zhuhai-Macau bridge.

They are so important and yet many Hongkongers seem to ignore the threat they face. When the giant rubber duck that was in Victoria Harbour in May was punctured, people seemed to care more about that than the fate of these living creatures.

Although we cannot stop the bridge from being built, we can still demand that the government does more to reduce the level of pollution resulting from the project.

Actually, there are many endangered species in Hong Kong, for example, some of the migratory birds and other animals in Mai Po Nature Reserve. Our city is seriously polluted because of our materialistic lifestyles.

So much of what we do makes the situation worse, from turning on air conditioners, to littering, or leaving large quantities of food at buffets. I think most of us know what is happening and choose to ignore it. We can no longer turn a blind eye to these serious environmental problems. In the case of the dolphins we must act fast before they leave us for good.

Micah Chong, Tsuen Wan




Airspace management reform urged

http://www.chinadailyapac.com/article/airspace-management-reform-urged

Airspace management reform urged

By Xin Dingding
October 30, 2012 – 9:35am http://www.chinadailyapac.com

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Airplanes taxi at Shenzhen Bao’an International Airport in 2011. (Zhang Bin / for China Daily)

The Pearl River Delta is one of the most congested parts of China’s airspace, with five major airports in the region, and none of them more than 200 kilometers apart from each other.

That’s a rare situation in the world, industry insiders said.

Yet, the region has a new runway under construction, another runway approved, and a new airport under consideration.

Civil aviation experts worried that the soon-to-be-added facilities will worsen congestion problems, given that only a small part of the Chinese airspace is for civil use, and called for a reform of the airspace management mechanism.

The new runway under construction at Guangzhou Baiyun International Airport came after the National Development and Reform Commission approved the expansion plans in July.

The expansion project – which also includes plans for a new terminal and two more runways – aims to prepare the facility to handle 80 million passengers a year by 2020, up from 45 million passengers last year.

Guangzhou has been appointed as one of the country’s three main international aviation gateways, according to the country’s 12th Five-Year Plan (2011-15). The capital city of South China’s Guangdong province will mainly connect Oceania and Southeast Asia.

Guangzhou’s plans have clearly put pressure on Hong Kong International Airport, currently the busiest airport in the region. It handled 54 million passengers and 3.97 million tons of cargo last year.

As a way to secure the airport’s leading position in the region, the Hong Kong government has this year agreed in principle to a third runway, though some industry insiders believe that the runway won’t be ready for use until 2023.

Meanwhile, media reports said that Guangzhou is mulling a new airport in the Nansha New Area, a State-level development zone.

The city’s leadership believes that Nansha needs an airport to increase its appeal to investors, said Ouyang Jie, a professor at the Civil Aviation University of China who specializes in airport studies.

“Otherwise, air passengers, upon their arrival at Guangzhou Baiyun airport, will have to travel through crowded downtown Guangzhou in order to get to Nansha, which is situated at the southernmost edge of Guangzhou,” he said.

City officials also believe that because Nansha is at the geographical center of the Pearl River Delta region, the new airport will be able to cover the population of the whole region, which the Baiyun airport, located at the north of city, is unable to do, Ouyang added.

Experts are not optimistic about the future of a second airport in Guangzhou, though.

“If the military and the local government cannot reach a consensus and expand the airspace for civil use, the second-airport project cannot possibly be approved,” said Li Kun, a researcher with the Comprehensive Transport Institute, which is affiliated with the National Development and Reform Commission.

Congested airspace

The region’s sky has been so severely congested that the International Air Transport Association has said that the situation in the Pearl River Delta is one of the top three global air traffic control problems.

In the past few years, even though new runways were added, they failed to fuel traffic growth because of the congestion problems.

The congestion also increases fuel consumption. Researchers at the Aviation Policy and Research Center of the Chinese University of Hong Kong estimated that the congestion costs more than HK$1 billion ($130 million) a year in fuel alone.

The most direct cause behind the congestion problems is that four of the five airports – in Shenzhen, Zhuhai, Hong Kong and Macao – are all packed at the mouth of the Pearl River, forcing planes to make detours to ensure safe take-offs and landings, professor Ouyang said.

The Guangzhou Baiyun airport is a little up in the north, but flights leaving the four airports for northern destinations all have to fly over Baiyun airport, adding to the problems there, he said.

Many people wonder why the airports were built so close to each other. Ouyang said that is due to complicated factors, involving “historical reasons”.

“Shenzhen, a pioneer of China’s reform and opening-up efforts, which started more than 30 years ago, tried to cooperate with the Hong Kong airport, but the different social systems and border policies made it impossible,” he said.

Hong Kong returned to China in 1997. Shenzhen, unable to wait for an airport to boost economic development, built an airport that opened in 1991.

It was a similar case in Zhuhai, which opened its airport in 1995, though it had mulled cooperating with Macao, which did not return to China until 1999, he said.

Ouyang believes that the only way for the five airports to survive in the region is if they have different functions, like the five airports in the Greater London area.

Zhuhai airport has the weakest performance among the five airports in the Pearl River Delta, as its planned scale is found to have surpassed the actual needs of the city’s population of 600,000.

A blessing in disguise for Zhuhai is that its redundant capacity has allowed it to host a biennial air show and develop general aviation flights, which refers to all civil aviation activities except for scheduled flights, he said.

However, the competition between Guangzhou and Shenzhen airports needs more attention, he said.

As the Hong Kong airport is an international air hub and the Macao airport aims to attract leisure tourists, intense competition exists mainly between Guangzhou and Shenzhen, with both seeking development in passengers and cargo transportation, he said.

Coordination between the two airports will be difficult, since the two are run by two separate and independent corporations, he said.

Expansion needed

Expanding the airspace is also urgent, experts said.

The scarce airspace available for civil use has been noted by the government, especially when China’s civil aviation industry is still developing at a rapid pace, said Li with the Comprehensive Transport Institute.

Air passengers throughout China last year were 620 million, and that number is estimated to double by 2020.

Airports, fleets and air routes all have to expand to meet the demand, he said.

“It’s not just a problem for Guangzhou. The same problem exists in Beijing, Wuhan and Changsha,” Li said.

According to a draft plan on the development of the civil aviation industry issued by the Hunan provincial authorities, 21 more general aviation airports will be built in the Central China province before 2030, the Changsha Evening News reported on Thursday.

In neighboring Hubei province, nine airports will be built in the next 18 years, increasing the total number of airports in the province to 13.

In Wuhan, Hubei’s provincial capital, a second airport will be built, according to local media reports.

“Though the negotiation process over airspace will be time-consuming and difficult, it will work out finally. It has to,” Li said.

Xu Wei contributed to this story.

xindingding@chinadaily.com.cn

Runways to reach early saturation point

The two runways at Hong Kong International Airport will reach maximum capacity by 2017 – or three years earlier than originally projected, according to the Airport Authority.

Winnie Chong

Friday, August 02, 2013

The two runways at Hong Kong International Airport will reach maximum capacity by 2017 – or three years earlier than originally projected, according to the Airport Authority.

It estimated two years ago that the runways would reach saturation point by 2020, and called for a third runway.

However chief executive officer, Stanley Hui Hon-chung, said yesterday the runways are likely to be saturated by 2017 at the earliest.

During an exhibition on the third runway, Hui said the airport is undergoing rapid growth. “Therefore, the need for a third runway has become even more pressing,” he said.

The airport saw an 8percent rise in passenger capacity, flight takeoffs and landings last month, compared to July last year. Cargo-carrying capacity also recorded a slight increase.

By 2030, Hui said, passenger trips through Hong Kong will increase to 102.3 million and freight traffic will reach 8.9 million tonnes a year.

Furthermore, there will be 607,000 aircraft movements a year.

The environmental impact assessment of a third runway should be completed at the end of this year or by early next.

The restricted area at the north of the airport will be extended to minimize the impact on the Chinese white dolphins, Hui said.

Green Sense spokesman Roy Tam Hoi-pong slammed the authority for failing to detail the impact of seven reclamation projects in Lantau.

Samantha Lee Mei-wah, of WWF Hong Kong, said the assessment should address whether reclamation will further reduce the number of dolphins.

Professional Commons policy convener Albert Lai Kwong-tak said the assessment is limited and will fail to assess the social impact of a runway.

The Professional Commons, together with Friends of the Earth and Hong Kong Dolphin Conservation Society, has begun a study into the effects of a third runway. It has asked British think-tank New Economics Foundation to offer advice.