New | IATA chief says no need for surcharge to build third runway in Hong Kong

Hong Kong’s airport authority does not need to charge users for building the third runway and should not do so for political reasons, said the International Air Transport Association’s director general Tony Tyler, as a new financing plan for the project is due to be unveiled.

Tyler, former chief executive of Cathay Pacific Airways and a long-time resident of Hong Kong, commended Hong Kong government’s efforts on the third runway project in his annual speech at IATA’s annual general meeting in Miami this week but warned the proposed HK$180 levy per passenger could cost Hong Kong the growth the runway was built for.

“The politics in Hong Kong is a very powerful force these days. I guess it would be seen as controversial to take the very sort of liberal model I’m proposing but it is the best the model,” Tyler told the South China Morning Post in an interview.

IATA in March said its research showed Hong Kong airport - with its pre-tax profit of HK$7.8 billion in 2014 - should have no problem funding the HK$150 billion Third Runway project itself by borrowing, instead of slapping extra charges on passengers before the runway would get built, which IATA said is against the “user pay principle”.

“User pay means you pay when you use it. Today’s airlines pay for tomorrow’s project…present users pay for something they are not using - that is not the user pay principle,” Tyler said.

The Hong Kong Airport Authority in May said it may reveal a new financing plan in a month with “significant cuts” to the proposed levy but said it would not scrap it.