Advertisement
Advertisement

Ready for takeoff

Two days over the deadline, and still far from perfect, but it does seem that the cargo handling nightmare which blighted the opening of Chek Lap Kok is finally coming to an end. By tomorrow, HACTL says, the new SuperTerminal 1 will be fully operational. Once all staff working out of Kai Tak are transferred, and all cargo operations are switched across, the final glitches should be sorted out. Waiting times for truck drivers will be cut, with customs checks carried out before collection, giving a service that promises to be smoother than Kai Tak. And so it has to be.

Reports from the passenger end of the business confirm that flight operations are now streamlined. Planes land and depart on time and luggage handling is well organised - cases are often waiting when their owners reach the arrivals hall. Cargo handling has a way to go before that level of service is accomplished, but improvements come by the day, and if HACTL has a lot of hard work ahead before it sheds its catastrophic image, that is where efforts must be focused now.

There has been a great deal of criticism since the airport opening. That was inevitable, given the 'feel bad factor' which gripped the SAR after a series of disasters followed by the economic downturn. A futuristic $155 billion facility promised to lift the gloom, and show the world the SAR was as go-ahead as ever. Instead, the chaos increased a sense of doom. But lessons should have been learned, and presumably the contingency plans that HACTL had to draw up in the early days have given an insight into handling crises, if any arise in future.

It has been a miserable two months, but is hoped Hong Kong can start talking itself up, making a determined effort to spread the word that things are moving again. If HACTL fails to deliver, the media can be relied upon to highlight the fact, as is only right. But if it is really regaining lost ground, that is a fact worth pointing out.

Post