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Carrie Lam policy address 2020
Hong KongTransport

Hong Kong’s battered aviation sector expected to receive boost in policy address as stakeholders call for ‘as much help’ as possible

  • The sector has been in near-collapse due to the coronavirus pandemic, but city leader Carrie Lam has hinted it will factor into her policy blueprint
  • Insiders, meanwhile, are calling for relaxed cross-border rules and better integrating land, sea and air transport to lift the ailing industry

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Chief Executive Carrie Lam speaks to the press one day before her annual policy address. Photo: May Tse
Danny Lee
The upcoming policy address by Hong Kong’s leader should include measures to bolster connectivity in the Greater Bay Area in southern China to help the air travel industry, which has been battered by the Covid-19 pandemic, experts have said.
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The aviation sector is tipped to be among businesses to receive the most assistance in the address by Chief Executive Carrie Lam Cheng Yuet-ngor on Wednesday. Among the key suggestions are relaxing border crossing rules and improving transport links beyond flights so travellers can transfer with ease onto high-speed trains, coaches or ferries.

The Greater Bay Area (GBA) aims to combine Hong Kong, Macau and nine mainland cities into an economic and innovation powerhouse. They together share a population of more than 70 million people, seven airports and a combined gross domestic product of US$1.4 trillion.

Hong Kong’s aviation sector has been severely hit by the Covid-19 crisis, with flagship carrier Cathay Pacific and Hong Kong International Airport both suffering a roughly 99 per cent plunge in passenger numbers. Cathay narrowly avoided collapse through a HK$39 billion recapitalisation effort, most of which came from the government.

Lam hinted earlier this month her policy initiatives for the aviation sector would focus on strengthening the city’s role in the Greater Bay Area following her meetings with various central government ministries, including the civil aviation administration.

Stanley Hui Hon-chung, a key adviser to Hong Kong-based start-up Greater Bay Airlines, said the government should relax cross-border rules to speed up the movement of people and trade.

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“Connectivity between Hong Kong and the rest of the Greater Bay Area, be it by highway, high-speed train or high-speed hydrofoils, is important,” said Hui, a former head of the Airport Authority and Cathay sister airline Dragonair.

“Ease of flow through all the control points on the boundary between Hong Kong and the rest of the GBA is critical, and the government should continue to make this flow of people, goods, vehicles relatively free and efficient.”

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