HK airport gets high marks for safety in international audit

An international audit of aviation safety ranked Hong Kong's airport fifth in the world and second in Asia. Chek Lap Kok got top marks for its resolution of safety concerns and the city's aviation laws.

The results were announced yesterday by the director general of civil aviation, Norman Lo Shung-man. He said the city had scored very highly in another of the eight categories, and had an overall mark of 94.47 per cent compared with the global average of 59.34 per cent.

He would not say where other airports ranked since the six-yearly audit, by the International Civil Aviation Organisation, was not finished.

The airport off Lantau Island is about to become even safer. It is preparing to switch to a state-of-the-art traffic control centre in 2013. The complex, at the southeastern corner of the airport, is under construction and will include public areas such as a library. The development would cost about HK$1.5 billion, Mr Lo said.

'The existing systems we are using are based on technologies from the early 1990s,' he said. 'Secondly, there is limited capacity in terms of the workstations available in the existing centre. The maximum we can have is 32 workstations.'

Of these workstations, 26 are in use. The new facility would be able to accommodate at least 56 workstations, which would allow the airport to manage the expected growth in air traffic up to 2025, the director general said.