Having been in commercial operation since , Hong Kong International Airport is an important regional trans-shipment centre, passenger hub and gateway for destinations in China with 45 destinations and the rest of Asia. The airport is the world's busiest cargo gateway and one of the world's busiest passenger airports.
Singapore Airlines and Ethiopian Airlines both utilise Hong Kong as a stopover point for their flights. More than airlines operate flights from the airport to over cities across the globe. In , HKIA handled To facilitate the increased traffic due to the third runway, Terminal 2 is currently under maintenance of adding a departures and arrivals section with immigration and will not be reopening until at least Located in the densely built-up Kowloon City District with a single runway extending into Kowloon Bay , Hong Kong Airport had turned on the runway lights for expansion to cope with steadily increasing air traffic.
By the s, Kai Tak had become one of the world's busiest airports β it far exceeded its annual passenger and cargo design capacities, and one out of every three flights experienced delays, largely due to lack of space for aircraft, gates, and a second runway. A planning study by the Civil Aviation and Public Works departments identified the small island of Chek Lap Kok, off Lantau Island , as a possible airport replacement site.
Away from the congested city centre, flight paths would be routed over the South China Sea rather than populous urban areas, enabling efficient round-the-clock operation of multiple runways. The Chek Lap Kok CLK airport master plan and civil engineering studies were completed towards the end of and respectively. In February , however, the government shelved the project for financial and economic reasons.
This study looked at forecasts for both airport and port traffic to the year and came up with three recommended strategies for overall strategic development in Hong Kong. One of the three assumed maintaining the existing airport at Kai Tak; a second assumed a possible airport in the Western Harbour between Lantau Island and Hong Kong Island, and the third assumed a new airport at Chek Lap Kok. The consultants produced detailed analyses for each scenario, enabling Government to consider these appraisals for each of the three "Recommended Strategies".
