Airport chaos could have been avoided if Hong Kong had adopted X-shaped proposal, says aviation watchdog

Hundreds of planes were left queuing for hours when Chek Lap Kok airport ran out of parking stands last month - and at least one vocal critic has said it could have been avoided if the Airport Authority had followed an earlier development plan.

Torrential rain, lightning and mainland airspace restrictions led to a chaotic 17 hours from May 23 into the following day. Arriving passengers had to wait on planes and others were stranded in the terminal building.

Lam Chiu-ying, convenor of the People's Aviation Watch concern group, said if the authority had followed through on its plan to build an X-shaped concourse building with 49 additional parking stands in an area between the two runways by 2010, it would have allowed passengers to leave their planes, rather than sit on board for hours.

"Passengers could at least have entered the terminal first. Waiting in the aircraft is so stressful," he said. The authority should have been prepared for severe weather as the airport was hit by thunderstorms an average of 38 days a year, said the former Observatory director.

The authority's master plan 2020, published in 2001, called for "an elongated 'X' shape satellite concourse and aircraft parking configuration to be developed in the midfield area". It said the additional stands would be required in the second part of the last decade if planning and service targets were to be met.

But the plan to erect the massive building was later ditched and was no longer mentioned in the updated master plan covering the airport until 2025, which was published in 2006.