Aviation officials say third runway only option to handle extra traffic

A third runway at Hong Kong's airport is the only way to handle rising air traffic in the long term, aviation authorities said yesterday, as they sought to fend off criticism the existing runways are not fully utilised.

The Civil Aviation Department reiterated its defence of the long-running proposal in response to criticism in recent newspaper columns.

Backing the department's position are figures released by global data tracker FlightStats this week showing that only 54.6 per cent of flights left Chek Lap Kok airport on time last month, down from 63.7 per cent in June and 76.8 per cent in January.

The department said it had improved navigation systems and carried out other measures over the years to boost the capacity of the two runways. In 1999, Chek Lap Kok could handle 40 flights an hour. The capacity had risen to 50 in 2004, and to 64 now.

"At present, we are always having to handle 64 [movements per hour]," assistant director general of civil aviation Manuel Sum Siu-wah said, implying that the two runways had reached full utilisation.

The capacity is expected to rise to 68 flights per hour in 2015. Sum said the department could further improve its work to cope with more than 68 movements an hour - but only for several hours a day.

"We cannot operate like that in the long run," he said, stressing the need for a third runway.