Anson Chan Fang On-sang admitted yesterday she had written to the Airport Authority saying Chek Lap Kok's July opening was irreversible.
Mrs Chan, acting Chief Executive, testified earlier that the opening could have been deferred.
On Day 40 of the Commission of Inquiry on the New Airport, Mrs Chan said the Government would have been willing to consider a delay if evidence of a significant problem had been brought to its attention.
Under cross-examination from John Griffiths SC for Hong Kong Air Cargo Terminals Limited, Mrs Chan admitted a further delay would have worsened the Government's image.
But she denied political pressure or a fear of criticism prompted her to state the July 6 date could not be changed.
Mr Griffiths put it to Mrs Chan that she had used the term 'irreversible' in relation to the July 6 date.
Mrs Chan admitted the term was used in a letter sent to authority chairman Wong Po-yan after the July opening was announced in January. But she said the letter was 'personal and confidential' and not 'cast in tablets of stone'.
