The Airport Authority's chief executive admitted yesterday that he was partly to blame for the chaos of the Chek Lap Kok opening. On the fifth and last day of his evidence before the Commission of Inquiry into the New Airport, Dr Hank Townsend said he and the authority were partly responsible as it oversaw all airport operations. The admission came after 4.5 days of testimony in which he sought to avoid apportioning blame to the authority, saying the extent of problems were unforeseen. Counsel assisting the commission Benjamin Yu SC told Dr Townsend the scenes in the passenger terminal on opening day would probably always stay with him. 'You witnessed what happened on day one, it is probably a scene you will vividly remember - do you personally feel responsible?' Mr Yu asked. Dr Townsend responded: 'I feel that the Airport Authority and myself, as chief executive officer, share some of the responsibility for that.' He said reports from contractors and franchisees in the run-up to the opening led him and the authority to believe the crash would not occur. Dr Townsend was followed into the witness box by Asia Airfreight Terminal (AAT) chief executive See Seng Wan. He told the commission that unlike AAT's competitor, Hong Kong Air Cargo Terminals Limited, AAT had no problems on opening day. But by day 10 it was overloaded with cargo and unable to cope. Mr See said the breakdown of the Flight Information Display System meant his staff had to stand on the tarmac to see whether aircraft carrying its cargo had arrived. Its only source of flight information came from airlines and ramp handlers. The usual 'orderly' flow of cargo was instead being dumped with AAT in batches, overloading its operations. Mr See said the congestion was the worst he had seen in his 18 years in the industry.
