Fire officers and officials of the new airport yesterday defended the length of time taken to extinguish a blaze in the passenger terminal on Wednesday night.
Airport Authority project director Douglas Oakervee said there would have been no danger to travellers if Chek Lap Kok had been open and fully operational.
All emergency procedures had worked well, he added.
However, with many new workers arriving at the site for the final fitting out, more work on fire prevention needed to be carried out, he said.
A fire started in the United Airlines office on the departures level at 9.30 pm on Wednesday.
Employees of the contractor and authority fire service attended immediately and the first crews from the Fire Services Department arrived within five minutes.