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SCMP Reporter

CATHAY Pacific will spend $3.5 billion building a 10-storey headquarters and a 25-storey hotel-style staff residence at the Chek Lap Kok airport, according to the airline.

  The $3.5 billion price tag will include the undisclosed cost of leasing the land from the Provisional Airport Authority (PAA).

  The residence will house Cathay's flight crew and domestic staff.

  Cathay Pacific managing director Rod Eddington said he expected the development to be completed by 1998, in time for the opening of the airport.

  It will include shopping, banking and recreational facilities and other amenities, serving about 5,000 people.

  Yesterday, the territory's flag carrier signed an agreement with the PAA to lease 3.3 hectares of land to undertake the property development.

  According to PAA chief executive Henry Townsend, the lease is good until 2045.

  Cathay will not pay a monthly rental to the PAA.

  The airline made a lump sum payment to the PAA yesterday, but officials for both Cathay and the PAA refused to reveal the amount.

  'The $3.5 billion figure is the all-up figure,' Mr Eddington said, refusing to provide a breakdown of the rent and construction costs.

  Cathay's office block and crew hotel will take up a million square feet and, for the first time, allow the company to centralise territory operations under one roof. 'This office complex will provide us with an opportunity to have our staff from the 19 different facilities now in one building,' Mr Eddington said.

  Cathay officials said the airline could save at least 10 per cent in costs by having its operations under one roof.

  An airline executive called the development 'a city within a city' with recreational amenities including a swimming pool, shops and restaurants, and a 140-metre, covered street linking various parts of the project.

  Cathay service delivery director Antony Tyler said the idea behind the complex was to bring the employees together under one roof in pleasant surroundings.

  Mr Tyler said the office complex would feature natural light and atriums, and would be environmentally sound and energy efficient.

  Mr Eddington said construction was expected to begin in June next year.

  The development would be built in stages, with the operational side of the company coming on line first.

  The commercial section would move in late 1998 or 1999. In all, 30 departments would be housed in the facility.

  The company's proposed hotel-style quarters would be equivalent to a three or four-star hotel, and would be built adjacent to the office complex.

  The quarters would accommodate offshore-based crew in Hong Kong and other staff attending training courses or company conferences.



$3.5b price tag for Cathay HQ