With hundreds of thousands of people due to fly out next week to spend their Lunar New Year holidays overseas, news of a near miss between two aircraft within Hong Kong's air space understandably causes a great deal of alarm.
Pending the outcome of an investigation by the Civil Aviation Department, it would not be right to prejudge why a Dragonair plane and a SilkAir jet were allowed to fly perilously close to one another last Saturday.
But suggestions that air traffic controllers might not have taken prompt action to avoid the near collision need to be taken seriously.
Because of its strategic location Hong Kong has become an aviation hub in Southeast Asia, with a phenomenal growth in the number of flights passing through its airspace.
The construction of Chek Lap Kok airport at huge cost was aimed at giving Hong Kong the capacity to meet that growth.
Opened in 1998, the airport boasts a first class design, the most sophisticated facilities and the best air safety systems.