The Hong Kong Airport Authority (HKAA) is having to address a projected two-month shortfall in operating revenue, following the Government's decision to delay until 6 July the opening of the territory's new international airport at Chek Lap Kok.
Hong Kong International Airport will actually be ready at the end of April, but the express-rail link to the city centre will not be completed until late June. The railway is designed to handle up to 40% of the airport's 35 million-passenger capacity.
The Hong Kong administration decided, therefore, to postpone the opening. The move, however, has left the HKAA facing an estimated HK$350 million ($45 million) shortfall in revenue during the two months that the airport will remain shut. The authority will also need to find some HK$250 million to cover maintenance overheads and interest charges on loans.
Observers note that the rapid growth in air traffic which prompted the construction of the HK$155 billion replacement airport, has dropped off dramatically since June 1997 and the hand-over of Hong Kong to China.
The airport is now at least 12 months behind its original completion schedule. The former UK administration had originally intended completing the airport in time for the hand-over. A long-running dispute with Beijing over financing the project was not resolved until 1995, however.
Source: Flight International
