Air transport has become increasingly important to Hong Kong's economy, given that the city is now an international aviation hub. Since the global economic recovery, we have witnessed a huge jump in exports and re-exports, and a healthy rebound in air cargo volumes and air traffic movement this year. Air traffic between Shanghai and Hong Kong has more than doubled since May, because of the World Expo.
The recent Dragonair labour dispute shows the industry is stretched to the limit and unable to cope with the growing demand. Our air transport and air cargo industry has many underlying problems. If the government doesn't tackle them urgently, it could see the demise of one of Hong Kong's pillar industries.
We face intense competition in air transport in the Pearl River Delta region and have been gradually downgraded to being just a small entry point into the mainland rather than a gateway to Asia and the rest of the world.
Our mainland competitors have been jostling to overtake each other and fighting for the top position. Hong Kong will definitely be left behind if it just maintains the status quo.
Our fundamental problem is a lack of basic infrastructure facilities and our inability to respond to increased aircraft movements due to mismanagement and short-sightedness. In order to strengthen the city's status as an international aviation hub and enhance our competitiveness, a third runway is needed to cope with growing demand. But, for the interim, we must also try to maximise the existing runway capacity.
Unfortunately, the director general of Civil Aviation, Norman Lo Shung-man, is not changing with the times. He cites insufficient manpower as an excuse for not increasing the hourly air traffic movements for both runways.
At present, Beijing registers up to 1,400 landings and takeoffs daily. That is expected to rise to 1,600 by 2015. Shanghai has two airports: Hongqiao has 900 flight movements per day; Pudong 500. After the opening of its third runway, Guangzhou now handles about 700 aircraft movements a day.