Airport to build HK$3 billion short cut for passengers using Hong Kong-Zhuhai-Macau bridge
Project will complement shuttle bus service from Hong Kong International Airport to the Pearl River Delta as operator bids to attract more mainland Chinese customers
Hong Kong’s airport operator announced on Thursday that it will build a HK$3 billion link to a customs centre on an artificial island that will serve as a short cut for passengers travelling to and from mainland China on a cross-border mega bridge.
The Airport Authority, which will fund the project entirely, said work would start on the 360-metre bridge in 2020, as long as environmental permits were approved.
Space-starved Hong Kong airport squeezes in 7,000 extra flights a year
Faced with competition for international flights from Guangzhou and Shenzhen’s airports, Hong Kong’s airport operator is under pressure to attract more mainland Chinese passengers.
“We are going to improve our services as much as we can because we are going to serve all Hong Kong citizens and Pearl River Delta people,” said Ricky Leung Wing-kei, deputy director of engineering and technology for theauthority, as he unveiled the bridge building and coach service plan.
The airport already has a variety of Hong Kong-mainland transport links.
More than 2 million travellers used the more than 500 daily coach and luxury car services to travel between HKIA and Shenzhen. An airport ferry service which connects nine cities across the Pearl River Delta served 2.6 million passengers in 2015-16, according to the Airport Authority.