BUDGET 2023: Hong Kong pushes for Airport City development

Several projects are lined up to support the market’s international aviation hub status.

The Hong Kong government and the Airport Authority Hong Kong (AA) are pressing ahead with the development of the Hong Kong International Airport (HKIA) into an “Airport City” to boost the market’s status as an international aviation hub.

Financial Secretary Paul Chan said the international airport, which served around 70 million passengers from 2018 to 2019 and is the third busiest airport in terms of international passengers globally, will be developed to cater to various economic activities with aviation remaining as the core business.

“With the addition of new developments and new functions, the HKIA will drive the economic growth of Hong Kong as well as its neighbouring regions,” he said in his budget speech.

READ MORE: Budget 2023: Gov’t lays out measures to support business

Infrastructure projects in the airport will include the SkyPier Terminal which will start operations in the middle of 2023, whilst the entire Three-Runway System is expected to be completed by end-2024. 

“The HKIA will have its capacity substantially increased and its position as a regional multi-modal transportation hub further enhanced,” Chan said. 

“The above developments will significantly boost passenger and cargo traffic of the HKIA, creating tremendous opportunities for activities such as aircraft repair and maintenance, aircraft parts manufacturing and relevant (research and development),” he added.

Chan said that the AA is looking into constructing a new aviation business park on the Airport Island and building an aviation industrial part in Zhuhai.

The HKIA will also develop an integrated commercial project, SKYCITY, whilst logistics infrastructure will be enhanced to expand the business of high-value goods and e-commerce as part of the Airport City strategy.

 Meanwhile, AA will also implement a series of measures to support the recovery of air traffic including “reducing or waiving airport charges, providing incentives to resume suspended flight services or launch new routes, organising large-scale promotion activities,” amongst others. 

Chan said they will look into medium-to-long-term manpower shortages in the aviation industry to identify solutions.