Authority on notice over airport fiascos
A senior government official yesterday warned the Airport Authority to put its house in order after a series of embarrassing incidents at Chek Lap Kok in the past month.
On Friday, a cooling system failure left the terminal building at Chek Lap Kok without air conditioning for more than 90 minutes, sending temperatures from the usual 24 degrees Celsius up to 28 degrees during the early evening.
Last month, a power cut delayed two flights, trapped at least three people in lifts, plunged half the passenger terminal into darkness and left shopkeepers and passengers without air conditioning for almost two hours.
It later emerged that the failure had been caused by a fault in a signal processor in the airport's power distribution system.
Stephen Ip Shu-kwan, Secretary for Economic Development and Labour, said yesterday every action must be taken to prevent a repeat of the incidents.
'These two incidents should serve as warning signals for the Airport Authority to take a more active and comprehensive approach to review all the systems,' he said.
The authority said a taskforce including representatives from suppliers, key contractors and manufacturers would look into all major operating systems to try to make them more robust. It would also submit a report to the government as soon as possible.
As for Friday's incident, the authority said a burned-out electronic device called a rectifier had been identified as the culprit. The failed device has been replaced and additional rectifiers would be installed, he added.
