HKIA plans runway assessment
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Hong Kong’s Airport Authority (AA) has announced that it will host a four-day exhibition and two public consultations regarding the Environmental Impact Assessment (EIA) for the planned expansion of Hong Kong International Airport (HKIA).
The sessions will be held from 1-4 August 2013 at the Hong Kong Convention & Exhibition Centre and related primarily to the development of a third runway.
“We are making progress with the studies on the 12 environmental aspects that comprise this EIA. We hope to engage members of the public and provide them with an update and gauge their feedback on the EIA studies,” said John Chai, the AA’s executive director of projects.
The EIA relates to the AA’s ‘Master Plan 2030’ for the expansion for HKIA, which will include the addition of a third runway and a new midfield complex. The Hong Kong government gave its approval to adopt the three-runway system in March 2012 and the AA is now evaluating the potential environmental impacts of the project – a process it expects to complete next year.
“Traffic has been growing at a faster rate than the forecast made in the Master Plan 2030,” said Chai. “Every day it becomes increasingly more urgent for the airport to expand. We plan to complete the EIA process in mid-2014.
“Once the statutory process is complete, we aim to start construction in 2016, and the planned three-runway system should be commissioned in 2023,” he added.
HKIA handled 28.9 million passengers in the first half of 2013, 4.7% up year-on-year, and set new records for daily passenger numbers and both daily and monthly aircraft movements.
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