Hong Kong faces ‘difficult’ task in rebuilding role as aviation hub, IATA says

The Airport Authority, which operates HKIA, had earlier projected passenger traffic would return to 80 per cent of pre-pandemic levels by the end of the year, and set its sights on a full recovery by the close of 2024.

Authority chairman Jack So Chak-kwong on Wednesday said passenger traffic volume at the airport had recovered to about 60 per cent of pre-pandemic levels, referring to daily figures.

Last month it revealed that “a peak of over 127,000 passengers [used the airport] on June 25 – a record high after the pandemic”.

IATA in July revised its own projection for Hong Kong’s aviation recovery and forecast the city would reach pre-pandemic passenger levels by the end of 2024, three years earlier than previously expected.

Chan on Wednesday said the government was looking to restore and enhance the city’s international connectivity, including negotiating new air service agreements and expanding existing ones with civil aviation partners in Asia and the rest of the world.

He also described Hong Kong’s airport as “by far the premier aviation hub” in the bay area.

Connecting the facility to its counterparts in the bay area while also building an airport city under the 11 Skies project would also propel the city’s economic growth, he said.

The 11 Skies project involves the creation of an entertainment and business hub that offers retail, dining, entertainment and office spaces, including an area dedicated to banking and wealth management services.

The finance chief said the government hoped to establish Hong Kong as an airport leasing centre by offering tax concessions to companies looking to set up shop, adding that the relevant legislation was expected to pass this year.

But Chan stressed the importance of people in ensuring the city’s continued success, pointing to his decision to inject HK$200 million (US$25.6 million) into the Maritime and Aviation Training Fund as part of this year’s budget.

IATA director general Willie Walsh, meanwhile, told airline executives and other industry players attending Wednesday’s event at AsiaWorld-Expo that “Hong Kong is back”.

Walsh’s trip, his first to Hong Kong since taking charge at IATA in 2021, also marked the first time the group’s chief had visited the city since the pandemic.

“Hong Kong is not trying to get back to where it was in 2019. Hong Kong is looking at a future that is completely different, to becoming the hub airport for the Greater Bay Area,” said Walsh, whose group represents 300 airlines.

Cathay Pacific Airways CEO Ronald Lam Siu-por said the bay area would act as an “extended home market” in the future, but stressed Hong Kong would still play an important role.

But he said the city’s airline industry was still suffering a “very acute” labour crunch, including shortages of pilots, cabin crew and ground staff.

“What took three years to go down, will not take three years to go up, but it will not take six months. It will take a bit longer, but we are on the right track,” he added.

Most mainland Chinese fly overseas via Hong Kong amid lack of flight options: IATA

The Board of Airline Representatives of Hong Kong, which includes more than 70 carriers, told the Post last week that travel demand was expected to rise, but manpower woes were hampering companies’ ability to reinstate flights and boost capacity.

Hong Kong was short of workers for positions such as customer services, ramp services, baggage and cargo handlers, as well as aircraft maintenance and technicians, it said.

The airport has 53,000 workers, 33 per cent less than the 78,000 employed before the Covid-19 pandemic.

Hong Kong in June announced plans to import 6,300 aviation workers, part of a wide effort to bring in 20,000 foreign labourers, to shore up the industry’s personnel shortage.

Importing labour to Hong Kong will ensure ‘more flights, help bring down airfares’

Airport Authority CEO Fred Lam Tin-fuk on Wednesday expressed confidence in the scheme and said it would help the city to recover.

“The importation of labour will be a big help in how we manage the remainder of our recovery in the next few months and perhaps next year,” he said.

Vivian Cheung Kar-fay, the authority’s chief operating officer, told forum attendees the first phase of the government’s plan to import labour had seen the body’s business partners receive about 3,000 applications from candidates outside Hong Kong.

The airport handled 3.3 million passengers in June, more than half the level recorded during the same month in 2019.