Third Runway

Hongkongers were no closer to understanding how regional airspace issues would be solved, after approval was granted yesterday for the construction of a third runway at Chek Lap Kok airport that would spell busier skies above the city.

The government would say only that the “problems will no longer exist” in five years, as it remained tight-lipped about whether Hong Kong could eventually circumvent a “sky wall” imposed by the mainland between the city and the national airspace.

The sky wall means outbound planes must fly circles to reach at least 4,800 metres, at which they can then enter mainland airspace. This obstacle will still exist with a third runway.

With the extra airstrip, the city can increase its current 68 flights per hour to 102, according to Airport Authorityforecasts, but critics say the target can be met only if the mainland concedes some of its airspace to Hong Kong.

A “directional plan” forged in 2007 was already in place, a government spokesman said ahead of the news that the Executive Council had given the go-ahead to build the third runway, now budgeted at HK$141.5 billion.

The plan set “short and medium objectives” for Hong Kong, Macau and Shenzhen to meet by 2020, he said. The three jurisdictions belong to a working group formed in 2004 to resolve issues of airspace amid growing traffic in the Pearl River Delta region.

The spokesman did not elaborate on what the talks had produced, only stressing that the three parties would work to achieve unified standards, procedures and arrangements to share airspace.

“The problems everyone is concerned about will no longer exist in 2020,” he said.

He tried to allay concerns about the sky wall, saying that global aviation regulations required all aircraft to enter another jurisdiction’s airspace at 4,800 metres anyway. He also downplayed the idea of boosting the two current runways’ capacity by shaving the peaks off several hills, saying that this was not “environmentally viable”.

Melonie Chau Yuet-ngor, of the People’s Aviation Watch concern group, said this was “deliberately misleading” as a 1992 master plan only stated two mountains, not in country parks, needed to be shaved.

Wu Chi-wai, transport policy spokesman for the Democratic Party, questioned the transparency of airspace management. He urged the government to explain why the dual-runway system failed to achieve its design capacity of 88 flights per hour.

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Source URL (modified on Mar 18th 2015, 5:22am): http://www.scmp.com/news/hong-kong/article/1740549/approval-third-runway-chek-lap-kok-airport-does-not-answer-questions

http://rthk.hk/rthk/news/englishnews/news.htm?hightlight&20150317&56&1085113

The government has given its approval for a third runway at Chek Lap Kok.

The decision was welcomed by the Airport Authority, which said expanding the airport was crucial to consolidating Hong Kong as an aviation hub.

The Secretary for Transport, Anthony Cheung, said the estimated cost would be HK$141.5 billion. The project will be financed by the Airport Authority through internal funds, external borrowing, and charging passengers.

Professor Cheung noted that the airport charges at the Hong Kong were among the lowest studied in a consultancy report, so there was room to raise them further.

About 650 hectares of land will be reclaimed from the sea for the runway and a new passenger building. Construction is expected to be completed by 2023.

Hong Kong’s airport expects to reach maximum capacity under its current layout by 2022 at the latest.

The Executive Council on Tuesday gave airport officials the green light to seek funds and build a HK$141.5 billion third airport runway, despite widespread opposition from activists and environmental groups.

Taxpayers are to be spared any expense, with funding to come internally through the Airport Authority’s own “healthy” surpluses, airport charges for visitors and carriers, and external financing through bonds.

The airport will also forfeit annual dividends to the government – the authority’s biggest shareholder.

Secretary for Transport and Housing Anthony Cheung Bing-leung said the airport was fast reaching maximum capacity and the third runway was needed to maintain the city’s long-term economic competitiveness.

Cheung said carrier charges at Chek Lap Kok were among the lowest in the world and there was room to raise them further.

Airport Authority chief Fred Lam Tin-fuk said the funding proposal was the fairest and most appropriate method based on a “user pays” principle.

He did not answer directly whether the financing plan was designed to bypass the Legislative Council finance committee. “We don’t think it is fair to make taxpayers pay for other visitors,” he said.

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Source URL (modified on Mar 17th 2015, 8:01pm): http://www.scmp.com/news/hong-kong/article/1740298/exco-gives-green-light-airport-authority-seek-funding-third-runway

Albert Cheng says recruiting air traffic controllers from overseas, to boost the capacity of the two existing runways, would be far cheaper

Airport Authority chiefs have been racking their brains on how to bypass the legislature to fund the proposed third runway, ever since the environmental impact assessment for the project was approved last year.

Last month, the authority submitted a proposal to the Executive Council on how to finance the massive infrastructure project. It has estimated the cost at HK$136 billion, a far lower figure than earlier market predictions of around HK$200 billion.

Even at this price, the odds of a smooth sailing through the Legislative Council remain slim. Public objections to the plan are mounting, with some people painting it as a white elephant, while green activists are seeking a judicial review to nullify the environmental permit already issued.

The authority has reportedly come up with a three-pronged approach to get round public opinion. It wants to waive dividend payment to the government for eight years, so that a special HK$40 billion fund could be set aside for the purpose. It paid a record HK$5.3 billion dividend to the government, which is its sole shareholder, in the last financial year.

It is also poised to impose a “runway construction surcharge” of between HK$150 and HK$200 on each passenger, generating another HK$3 billion a year for the next 10 years. This would be on top of the HK$120 departure tax now levied on passengers aged 12 or above who leave Hong Kong by air.

The remaining amount could be met by issuing bonds.

The authority’s plans are designed to deprive legislators of the proper channels to scrutinise the project.

I have made my position clear; I am unconvinced there is a need for an additional runway. Officials, for example, have yet to explain how we could better use the airspace immediately north of Hong Kong under mainland control.

As Beijing continues to erode Hong Kong’s role in the “one country, two systems” arrangement, our so-called special administrative region will increasingly become not so special – and be just another Chinese city. In this scenario, the premise for a drastic increase in air capacity for Hong Kong is questionable.

Meanwhile, the director general of civil aviation, Norman Lo Shung-man, has made a bad pitch even less appealing. He was condemned by legislators for squandering taxpayers’ money by turning his new office building into a luxurious amenity. The Civil Aviation Department also spent public money on security and electronic systems without government approval. It would be a stretch to ask the public to place their confidence in him to oversee the most expensive infrastructure project in the history of Hong Kong.

Economic, environmental and technical uncertainties aside, the project is also doomed by an acute labour shortage. There is now a shortfall of about 15 air traffic control and aeronautical communications personnel. The Civil Aviation Department has recruited 60-odd student officers over the past few years. That means only about 20 officers at the junior level each year.

It takes five years to train a student air traffic control officer. At least a decade is needed before they are ready to be promoted to a supervisory role. Even if we eventually get the hardware built in a decade or so, we would not have enough air traffic controllers to ensure safety and efficiency.

Our existing air traffic controllers are close to burn-out. They are often required to work overtime and are unable to take all their holidays. It is difficult for them to keep up their professional standards under such stress, even before any additional workload arising from a third runway. Our airport’s capacity is severely handicapped at night because there are not enough controllers to direct the planes. Carriers, such as Cathay Pacific, are not able to fully utilise their broad-bodied aircraft for the same reason.

I wouldn’t mind putting a new runway on our collective wish list. But it is hardly a matter of urgency.

If we fail to act now to improve the working conditions at the control tower, the two existing runways may become underused, rather than saturated as the authority has predicted.

There is a compelling case for recruiting more experienced air traffic control officers from overseas.

These people could help to significantly boost the number of landings and take-offs for the two serving runways from 62 flights per hour to 68 flights per hour, or more.

Even if we were to reward, say, 30 expatriates with salaries of more than HK$1 million a year, that amount would be peanuts compared with the price of the third runway and would be money well spent.

This alternative prescription is simple: reform the Civil Aviation Department and liberalise its recruitment policy for air traffic controllers.

Albert Cheng King-hon is a political commentator. taipan@albertcheng.hk

Source URL (modified on Feb 26th 2015, 12:43pm): http://www.scmp.com/comment/insight-opinion/article/1723763/financing-issues-manpower-shortages-hong-kongs-third-runway

http://macaudailytimes.com.mo/hong-kong-aims-to-get-third-runway-ready-by-2023-as-demand-soars.html

Hong Kong, the world’s largest international air cargo airport, aims to start construction next year on a third runway that will open by 2023 as regional rivals step up efforts to capture growing passenger traffic and cargo demand in Asia.

The new facility will help Hong Kong International Airport boost capacity to 100 million passengers and 9 million tons of cargo a year by 2030, Financial Secretary John Tsang said in his budget speech yesterday. The airport said it handled 63.4 million passengers and 4.38 million tons of cargo last year, both records.

“It is imperative for us to take forward the development of a three-runway system in order to meet our long-term air traffic demand and to maintain our status as an international and regional aviation center in the face of fierce competition from other airports in the region,” Tsang said in a prepared statement.

Tsang’s pledge comes after Singapore announced plans Monday to spend S$3 billion (USD2.2 billion) to begin developing a fifth passenger terminal at Changi International Airport over the next decade, and as other countries gear up to tap growing travel demand from China and other parts of Asia.

Beijing has started construction on a second international airport, while the southwest Chinese city of Chengdu has received regulatory approval for a new 69.3 billion yuan ($11.1 billion) airport that will have three runways.

Hong Kong’s third runway is projected to cost HK$150 billion ($19.3 billion).

Hong Kong’s total trade came to HK$8.4 trillion last year, with air cargo through the airport comprising nearly 40 percent of exports and imports by value, Tsang said yesterday.

Tsang also announced plans to develop air financing in Hong Kong and pledged to explore measures to promote such business. Clement Tan, Bloomberg

Newly established watchdog claims HK$136b project would only reach quarter of its potential

The proposed HK$136 billion third runway at Chek Lap Kok would only raise the airport’s efficiency by a quarter of normal expectations due to unresolved airspace conflict with neighbouring cities, concern groups and academics said yesterday.

“It equals pouring in over HK$100 billion for a quarter of a runway,” said Lam Chiu-ying, adjunct professor of geography and resource management at Chinese University.

Lam is one of four conveners of the newly established People’s Aviation Watch – a body set up to monitor the third runway project – which includes Friends of the Earth and other environmental groups, as well as academics from various disciplines.

The Airport Authority’s projection that handling capacity would increase from the current 68 flights per hour to 102 with the completion of the runway assumes Shenzhen airport would concede some of its existing airspace to Hong Kong, he said.

But the airspace conflict is the reason the current dual-runway system isn’t operating at its full capacity of 86 flights per hour, Lam said.

“The Airport Authority’s estimate is based on what they have yet to achieve,” he said.

Under the authority’s plan, aircraft using the third runway would overlap with existing flight paths of planes using Shenzhen Baoan International Airport at two points – over Jinxing Bay in Zhuhai, and over the Pearl River Delta.

“The central government may have to intervene if the Hong Kong and Shenzhen authorities fail to reach a consensus,” said Melonie Chau Yuet-cheung of Friends of the Earth.

In November last year, the government approved the environmental impact assessment for the runway despite strong opposition from conservationists.

The most expensive construction project since the handover – with a cost estimate of HK$136 billion in 2011 – still needs approval from the Executive Council on its design and funding.

The Airport Authority did not address the conflict issue directly, but said there were plans to “improve the management of airspace in the Pearl River Delta”.

Source URL (modified on Jan 23rd 2015, 2:30am): http://www.scmp.com/news/hong-kong/article/1689345/hong-kongs-proposed-third-runway-would-only-reach-quarter-its

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