Costly way to ease night flight blues
WHAT on earth are those people living underneath Kai Tak's flight path moaning about? The Government said it would only increase flights at night after public consultation and it kept to its word.
Government: What do you think about more flights? Residents: Absolutely not.
Government: More flights it is then.
The residents should take heart from a decision in the Japanese High Court yesterday which declared compensation should be paid to those affected by night-time aircraft noise. Each plaintiff was awarded the equivalent of $65,000 in a one-off payment.
With an estimated 388,000 people in Hong Kong affected by night-time aircraft noise, a similar judgment here would cost the Government $25 billion, rather more than the $4.3 billion the extra flights should create in revenue.
