HKIA celebrates traffic records of 50 million passengers

A commemoration ceremony was held at the airport in the presence of Eva Cheng, Secretary for Transport and Housing, Dr the Hon Marvin Cheung Kin-tung, Chairman of Airport Authority Hong Kong (AA), Stanley Hui Hon-chung, Chief Executive Officer of the AA, Anthony Lau, Executive Director of Hong Kong Tourism Board and a large number of business partners from the airport community and related industry bodies.

At the ceremony, the 50 millionth passenger who arrived at HKIA on Christmas Day, Wong Seng-hoe from Singapore, was presented with 50 gifts from various airport business partners, including a HK$5,000 cash coupon from the AA. Mr Wong came to Hong Kong with his family to celebrate the festive season.

The four millionth tonne of cargo, which is a consignment of electronic products bound for Dubai, departed from HKIA on 19 December.

Speaking at the ceremony, the Secretary for Transport and Housing Eva Cheng said, "This is an encouraging accomplishment, and also a result of the close cooperation and joint efforts of the AA, its business partners and the entire aviation and travel industry in riding out challenges."

Ms Cheng further added that whatever the operating environment, the AA has not reduced its investment on infrastructure. While the current development of the airport is expected to cope with the anticipated traffic demand up to 2020, the AA has launched its Master Plan 2030 study, which will look into the feasibility of building a third runway, with a view to reinforcing Hong Kong's status as an international and regional aviation centre.

AA Chairman Dr Marvin Cheung said, "The new traffic records are remarkable achievements, particularly in light of the fact that very few airports worldwide have such high passenger and cargo traffic at the same time. We have come a long way, and I sincerely thank the Hong Kong SAR Government, the airlines, cargo terminal operators, business partners, shippers, logistics operators and the general flying public for their unwavering support of HKIA. We also owe our remarkable achievements to the sustained growth of the Hong Kong SAR and Mainland economies.

"As traffic flow at the airport continues to grow, we will always maintain high standards and a world-class airport experience in terms of operating efficiency and service excellence," he added. "This requires a lot of hard work by everyone in the HKIA community. In addition to a deeply rooted service culture, another important enabling factor is the timely investments we make to enhance the airport's facilities and infrastructure. With a strong mix of hardware and software, HKIA has earned over 30 best and most efficient airport awards over the years - honours that belong to the 60,000 staff of the HKIA community."

Commenting on the airport's future plans, AA Chief Executive Officer Stanley Hui said, "As part of our ongoing effort to increase our capacity to meet future growth while also maintaining high service standards, we will unveil in early 2011 a midfield development project that will result in a new passenger concourse and 20 additional parking stands by 2015. Also, HKIA Master Plan 2030, which outlines the airport's aviation demand and development needs over the next 20 years, will also be released for public consultation within the first half of next year."

HKIA is connected to 155-plus destinations, including more than 40 in the Mainland, through close to 900 daily flights by over 95 airlines. The airport's previous traffic milestones of 40 million passengers and three million tonnes of cargo were achieved in December 2005 and December 2004, respectively.