HKAA panic letter They still cannot prove they will be allowed additional landing rights by the PLA Airforce – meanwhile Shenzhen will be burning an additional 11,000 tonnes MSW per day by 2015, projected to rise to 18,000 tonnes per day
HK Standard
Airport Authority Hong Kong recently submitted further information for the project profile of Hong Kong International Airport’s proposed expansion to a three-runway system.
Kevin Poole
Thursday, July 12, 2012
Airport Authority Hong Kong recently submitted further information for the project profile of Hong Kong International Airport’s proposed expansion to a three-runway system.
That was in response to a request made by the director of environmental protection in June. The public can comment on the project and the new information to the director by tomorrow.
The airport authority is committed to carrying out the environmental impact assessment process in a transparent, engaging manner.
Some of the feedback received raises questions about: Our air traffic forecasts Safe operation of the three-runway system and The environmental information contained in the project profile.
I would like to clarify some misconceptions on these three critical areas.
On traffic forecasts, it has been noted that the growth in passenger demand included in the authority’s master plan 2030 exceeds that of the design capacity in the 1992 new airport master plan by about 10 percent.
This has led some to believe that the airport may not truly be reaching its saturation point, and that the excess capacity for flight movements will be used predominantly for private jets.
The discrepancy between the forecasts is mainly because many of the working assumptions adopted in the early 1990s were based on the operating environment of Kai Tak airport, which was highly constrained and fully stretched.
At the time it was natural for airlines to maximize each valuable slot by deploying the biggest aircraft possible.
The 1992 plan therefore assumed that wide-bodied aircraft would comprise more than 80 percent of aircraft movements, resulting in a high average passenger load forecast of more than 300 people per aircraft.
The new airport at Chek Lap Kok provided more runway capacity, allowing airlines to increase their flight frequencies and service to secondary destinations.
This has enabled the authority to develop into an international and regional aviation hub, but it also led to the deployment of more narrow-bodied aircraft – mostly less than 200 seats.
Since 2000, the average passenger load per aircraft has decreased to about 190. In other words, it will take 437,000 aircraft movements instead of the 278,000 originally estimated in the 1992 plan to serve 87 million passenger trips.
In addition, from 1997 to 2010 the percentage of wide-bodied freighters decreased from 84 to 67 percent in favor of medium-sized aircraft.
Therefore, moving 8.9 million tonnes of cargo will take 108,000 aircraft movements instead of the 66,000 forecast.
Finally, it is important to note that civil aviation has always been and remains the authority’s top priority. Business flights use only time slots that are not already occupied by scheduled flights, and they account for about 2 percent of the airport’s total aircraft movements.
When considering future development and service, our primary goal will continue to put the needs of civil flights first.
On the safe operation of the three- runway system, the authority in conjunction with National Air Traffic Services has developed and designed the position and alignment of the third runway and its associated flight paths – including departure and missed approach flight path – in accordance with standards laid down by the International Civil Aviation Organisation, ensuring the obstacle clearance along the flight paths between an aircraft and ground obstacles meet the stipulated safety requirements.
The airspace management experts in the Civil Aviation Department also agree on the designs.
On the environmental impact assessment project profile, it must be emphasized that this is the first step in the process, designed to set out the project scope and identify potential environmental issues.
It is not intended to fully detail environmental impacts and mitigation measures, aspects which are reserved for the comprehensive study following the issuing of the study brief by the Department of Environmental Protection.
The airport authority has complied with all statutory guidelines for preparing the project profile and supplied all required information, and it has also committed to undertaking the air quality studies by benchmarking against the new air quality objectives which have yet to come into effect.
The Environmental Impact Assessment Ordinance carries a provision allowing the department to request information further to the project profile, which it has done.
The further information requested covering marine ecology, noise, health and hazards is intended to help the department draft the study brief.
The additional information includes updates on Chinese white dolphins; clarification that the airport authority has always planned to address all air pollutants under current and new air quality objectives (including NO2, ozone, PM10, PM2.5 and more) during the assessment; clarification that the preliminary aircraft noise contours prepared during master planning will be subject to further evaluation during the assessment; and clarification that the assessment will address the potential impact on all identified ecologically sensitive receivers and areas of potential ecological concern, including the Chek Lap Kok Marine Exclusion Zone, as well as the cumulative impacts associated with other major planned projects such as the Shek Kwu Chau incinerator.
It is important to remember that the submission of the project profile represents just the first step in a two-year process.
The actual assessment will address potential environmental impacts in all areas.
We value the feedback we receive as we explore all possible ways to avoid, minimize, mitigate and compensate for potential environmental impacts, and we look forward to continuing our dialogue with concerned stakeholders as the process unfolds.
Kevin Poole is deputy director, projects, at the Airport Authority Hong Kong
Introduction
Hong Kong International Airport (HKIA) has been ranked as the busiest airport for international air cargo since 1996. In 2011, HKIA handled 3.9 million tonnes of freight http://www.hongkongairport.com/eng/business/about-the-airport/air-cargo/air-cargo-intro.html
Air cargo volumes through Hong Kong down on last year
May 06, 2011
Hong Kong Airport’s leading ground handler saw tonnage fall in April, compared with a year earlier, as exports from China continued to falter.
Hong Kong Air Cargo Terminals (Hactl) handled 225,791 tonnes in the month, down 9.3% year on year.
Cumulative tonnage for the first four months of the year was down 1.1% to 876,136 tonnes. Decreasing export volumes was the prime cause, 11.6% down, year on year, to 122,123 tonnes.
Total export volumes for the first four months of 2011 totalled 457,236 tonnes, a drop of 4.1% year on year.
Import volumes for April also fell: down 6.4% to 57,748 tonnes
http://www.thegfp.com/news/title/Air-cargo-volumes-through-Hong-Kong-down-on-last-year
Hong Kong’s Hactl Q1 air cargo traffic down 2.5 pct y/r, -0.7 pct in March
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Fri Apr 13, 2012 6:57am EDT
HONG KONG, April 13 (Reuters) – Hong Kong Air Cargo
Terminals Ltd (Hactl) said on Friday its cargo traffic fell 2.5
percent in the first quarter from the same period a year ago, as
the global economy slowed.
It handled a total of 633,935 tonnes of cargo in the January
to March period, with exports and imports decreasing 1.7 percent
and 13.3 percent, respectively, from a year earlier.
Hactl is a major air cargo player in Hong Kong, which is a
re-export centre for trade between Asia and the rest of the
world. It handles about 70 percent of the cargo traffic of Hong
Kong’s international airport.
A breakdown of air cargo handled by Hactl in March and the
first quarter of 2012:
March 2012 Jan-Mar 2012
Tonnage Yr/Yr Tonnage Yr/Yr
(tonnes) growth (pct) (tonnes) growth (pct)
Export 137,598 +0.4 329,418 -1.7
Import 57,630 -10.0 151,986 -13.3
Transshipment 58,543 +7.7 152,531 +9.1
————————————————————–
Total 253,771 -0.7 633,935 -2.5
http://www.reuters.com/article/2012/04/13/hongkong-aircargo-idUSL3E7LR2L520120413