This picture has me wondering if the expansion at Hong Kong includes the building of a new terminal in the bulldozed area? If so, how is it to be connected to the current terminal? Would it not be a long trek from checkin area to gates?


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Photo © Jeffwell

Quote: Would it not be a long trek from checkin area to gates?

Aye, It would be.

The area you are referring to is the future expansion area of VHHH. It will be a new satellite terminal and will use the current check in area. It will be connected by an underground "people mover". It is due to be built some time late in this decade.

This should help


New Hong Kong

Isn't this the only airport in Hong Kong? I only counted about 50 gates. It seams like they should have a huge airport for the massive size of the city.

Been through HKG multiple times - preferred the landings at the old airport, but the new airport is exceptionally well designed and the people mover system should handle some very heavy loads. Also helpful are the check in facilities in town i I have used the one in Kowloon a few times and it's an easy way to go. My only concern is runway capacity and I can see more in the future - they will just increase the island they built.

Note there is already another terminal (checkin counters) being built below the current terminal in that pic, its the other side of the railway and will mainly be used for China flights. As for the new MAIN terminal in the middle of the field, there is no plan for that yet.

At the top end near HAECO you can see the new taxiway thats just opened, this is to avoid the area that the hangar 2 in being built on.

Quoting N754PR (Reply 5): Note there is already another terminal (checkin counters) being built below the current terminal in that pic, its the other side of the railway and will mainly be used for China flights. As for the new MAIN terminal in the middle of the field, there is no plan for that yet.

Neat! does HKG have the airport set up so that flights to China are on one side of the terminal, as in Vancouver for example, where there is an area for Domestic only, International only and US only? Do you need a visa to go to China from HKG (as a resident)? Or is this new checkin area being built to accomodate anticipated traffic to China? How are the checkin areas now, are they congested already?

I must also add that from this picture, not a whole lot of parking space is available, considering the size of the aicraft that fly out of HKG and how busy it is... or is it just a bad angle? Is public transportation mainly used (and convenient) to get to HKG?

We are building terminal 2 right now and will be completed by 2007. It is an expansion at the south of our current terminal. Terminal 3 is the satellite one and will likely be built at the end of this decade.

Heard that there will be a 3rd runway. Not sure if this is true.

Our Airport is already huge. It can handle around 40-50 million passengers annually. When the airport is fully completed, it is expected to be able to handle around 80-120 million passengers annually

[Edited 2005-08-06 06:41:35]

Quoting ETStar (Reply 7): I must also add that from this picture, not a whole lot of parking space is available, considering the size of the aicraft that fly out of HKG and how busy it is... or is it just a bad angle? Is public transportation mainly used (and convenient) to get to HKG?

There are 4 public car parks next to the terminal, some of them are multilevel long term car park. However, with the exceptional public transport system and the high cost of maintaining a car, most of the people in Hong Kong just simply don't drive. There are more than 10 bus routes or even up to 20 serving the airport and an airport railway as well. There are a few licensed private coach companies serve destinations within southern China.

I only know a few people in Hong Kong that they have a car which usually just park at home. Unlike most of the western countries, I only know a few people that does not own a car  

Senliture

Quoting Phxplanes (Reply 3): I only counted about 50 gates.

Yes it might be so but if you look to the area between the left pier and the road leading to the terminals, that is all apron area. Many planes are kept there during the day, esp. CX. When I arrived in HKG in Jan, I was lucky enough to have landed on one side and get scheduled to gate 4, right on the other side of the building. There were at least 3 CX 744's in that middle apron and probably another A330. The cargo (obscured by the cloud) and maintenance areas are situated away from the main terminal (like most airports).

Those pictures are great... If you have seen the design you'd have already noticed that they are planning to double the capacity of gates.

Quoting Kaitak744 (Reply 1): It will be connected by an underground "people mover".

It will be an extension of the existing people mover system with 1 new station in the middle of the new satellite.

Quoting Phxplanes (Reply 3): I only counted about 50 gates.

47 Contact gates
11 Remote Parks to the north of the terminal
11 Remote Parks to the south of the terminal
6 Remote Parks to the west of the terminal
11 Remote Parks to the west of the tower
22 Cargo stands

What is interesting is that all flights from Hong Kong are international. Unlike the US or Europe there are no weasels coming in to feed the longhauls and there are no domestic routes. There is an unusually high proportion of widebodies for a major airport because many shorthauls are flown with widebodies.

Because of the average aircraft size the schedules are not very intensive (of course except the likes of beijing/shanghai/taipei). Gates are therefore widebody-sized, misused at times for narrowbodies. Not sure why there are no MARS stands.

The remote parks are used for towing off long turnaround aircraft to free up the gates.

Quoting Ken777 (Reply 4): My only concern is runway capacity

Quoting United Airline (Reply 8): Heard that there will be a 3rd runway.

Runway capacity will be the limiting factor for the airport. So is the congested airspace around Hong Kong.

The airspace is more of a critical issue at the moment. Once that has been addressed the runways can still cope with possibly 30% more traffic. A comparision would be with Heathrow. Both with 2 parallel runways predominantly in segregated mode. In terms of daily movements Hong Kong is half that of Heathrow but the difference in average aircraft size translates directly to lower "movement" capacity for Hong Kong because of higher average arrival separations. I can categorically confirmed a third runway is in the pipe but we are a long way off.

Quoting N754PR (Reply 5): Note there is already another terminal (checkin counters) being built below the current terminal in that pic, its the other side of the railway and will mainly be used for China flights.

That might be the plan but what you will find eventually the airlines will have the final say in how the new checkins and the old checkins are used. They are on the wrong side of the terminal - I suspect they will be cheaper to rent and thus attract the low costs. Sure you wont see CX there.

Quoting ETStar (Reply 6): does HKG have the airport set up so that flights to China are on one side of the terminal

No, all flights are international even to China. No need to have separate passenger flows.

Quoting ETStar (Reply 7): I must also add that from this picture, not a whole lot of parking space is available

Someone else has replied to this but it's a whole lot easier on the public transport.

Quoting United Airline (Reply 8): We are building terminal 2

I wouldnt call that T2. A different numbered terminal would imply it being physically seperate from the other terminal which is not the case. You still have to go through the main terminal building to board from there. Nor should the new satellite be called T3.

wowwwww!!!
sounds amazing!!!1 thing that i am curious about is...if they are to build a new runway, i know it won't be a problem because they can jus create extra land, but i wanted to know where????could it be beside 1 of the runways then changing to a R,C and L?!?!anybody have any info???
thanx

ari

Quoting ETStar (Reply 7): Is public transportation mainly used (and convenient) to get to HKG?

In addition to the info in reply #9 by Senliture, the highspeed-train to Kowloon and Hong Kong Island should be mentioned seperately. This is by far the fastest and most convenient way to go downtown. And on the return you have check-in facilities in both downtown stations.

Quoting Ari (Reply 12): f they are to build a new runway, i know it won't be a problem because they can just create extra land, but i wanted to know where??

The only useful location would be to the north of the existing complex (to the right on the pic above). To the south is Lantau Island with housing estates and hills (though there´s a history of hills being knocked down, it would be difficult to build a runway incl. clear approaches over there).
"To the north" would give two options: Build it close to the existing north rwy (less land to reclaim, but restrictions in parallel rwy-use) or build it wide-spaced (read. approx. 1 mile !) north in the waters (much more difficult to build, but enabling parallel op´s on all 3 rwys).

However, the "Master Plan 2020" (see URL in reply #2) does not call for a third runway to be constructed at all ...
Unlike most other land-based airports, HKIA does have a permit to run 24h flight-op´s (IIRC), thus meaning that traffic can be dispersed.
-HT

Quoting HT (Reply 13): "To the north" would give two options: Build it close to the existing north rwy (less land to reclaim, but restrictions in parallel rwy-use) or build it wide-spaced (read. approx. 1 mile !) north in the waters (much more difficult to build, but enabling parallel op´s on all 3 rwys).

I don't believe in the 3rd runway, a simple reason is that there is no airspace. Neither north nor south would be possible. If you can grab a map of Hong Kong you will know. The reason why the current runways cannot operate both aircraft at the same time (parallel landing/takeoff) is that the runways are too close together and not enough airspace to buffer. While most of the airports with parallel runways has a clear airspace in front of them, Hong Kong is blocked by a hill or some sort.

Simply can't unless someone has a brilliant idea to solve the problem.

Quoting Senliture (Reply 14): The reason why the current runways cannot operate both aircraft at the same time (parallel landing/takeoff) is that the runways are too close together and not enough airspace to buffer. While most of the airports with parallel runways has a clear airspace in front of them, Hong Kong is blocked by a hill or some sort.

The runways are far apart enough for full independent mixed mode.

Airspace is a problem but it's not because of obstructions. The FIR boundary to the north follows the geographical boundary with China. This restricts where the hold stack can be placed hence the STARs have to be routed out the south into the sea. Aircraft are brought back from the south where sequencing 2 independent parallel streams from the same stack would be too complex. There is also very limited space to do so over the city - safety comes into play when you have such tight space. On easterly Macau is in the way. It's sometimes difficult enough not to infringe Macau TMA sequencing just 1 runway.

The ideal mode of operation would be compass (arrivals) mixed mode with 2 stacks one to the north serving the northern runway and one to the south serving the southern runway. Traffic should be balenced enough to keep both stack/runway going without having to swap.

There is however, no scope for mixed mode without a revised airspace with both Macau and China where the FIR boundary does not follow the geographical one. This will enable a northern stack to be placed possibly within current Chinese airspace. The stacks can be shared amongst the 3 neighbouring airports if needed. This is currently being investigated. The third runway options will be looked at following the revised airspace. This work will be purely exploratory. Give it at least 5 years before a proposal for consultation.

[Edited 2005-08-07 02:59:03]