Hong Kong International Airport replaces Kai Tak Airport
History
Chek Lap Kok Airport was designed as a replacement for the former Hong Kong International Airport (commonly known as Kai Tak Airport) built in 1925. Located in the densely built-up Kowloon City District with a single runway extending into Kowloon Bay, Hong Kong airport had turned on the runway lights for expansion to cope with steadily increasing air traffic. By the 1990s, Kai Tak had become one of the world's busiest airports – it far exceeded its annual passenger and cargo design capacities, and one out of every three flights experienced delays, largely due to lack of space for aircraft, gates, and a second runway. In addition, noise mitigation measures restricted nighttime flights, as severe noise pollution (exceeding 105 dB(A) in Kowloon City) adversely affected an estimated total of at least 340,000 people.A 1974 planning study by the Civil Aviation and Public Works departments identified the small island of Chek Lap Kok, off Lantau Island, as a possible future airport replacement site. Far away from the congested city centre, flight paths would be routed over the South China Sea rather than populous urban areas, enabling efficient round-the-clock operation of multiple runways. The Chek Lap Kok (CLK) airport master plan and civil engineering studies were completed towards the end of 1982 and 1983 respectively. In February 1983, however, the government shelved the project for financial and economic reasons. In 1988, the Port & Airport Development Strategy (PADS) Study was undertaken by consultants, headed by Mott MacDonald Hong Kong Limited, reporting in December 1989. This study looked at forecasts for both airport and port traffic to the year 2011 and came up with three recommended strategies for overall strategic development in Hong Kong. One of the three assumed maintaining the existing airport at Kai Tak; a second assumed a possible airport in the Western Harbour between Lantau Island and Hong Kong Island, and the third assumed a new airport at Chek Lap Kok. The consultants produced detailed analyses for each scenario, enabling Government to consider these appraisals for each of the three "Recommended Strategies". In October 1989, the Governor of Hong Kong announced to the Legislative Council that a decision had been made on the long-term port and airport development strategy for the territory. The strategy to be adopted was that which included a replacement airport at Chek Lap Kok and incorporating new container terminals 8 and 9 at Stonecutters Island and east of the island of Tsing Yi respectively.In the PADS study, the consultants advised that the earliest the airport could be opened was January 1998. However, in reaching the government's decision, this date was modified to January 1997, six months prior to the handover of Hong Kong to China. Construction of the new airport began in 1991. As construction progressed, an agreement was reached with China that as much as possible of the airport would be completed before the handover to China in July 1997. In the event, British Prime Minister John Major opened the Tsing Ma Bridge, the main access to Lantau Island and the airport and its supporting community in May 1997, prior to the transfer of sovereignty to China. The airport itself was opened in July 1998.
The construction period was very rushed; specialists considered that only a 10–20-year period was sufficient for this massive project. Another cause for this rush was due to the uncertain future of the airport construction after the transfer of sovereignty over Hong Kong to the People's Republic of China. Shortly after the then-British colonial government of Hong Kong announced plans to construct the new airport, the Chinese government in Beijing began voicing objections to various aspects of the massive project, which prompted financial institutions to delay extending project finance. Without access to this financing, many of the companies who had secured contracts to build various portions of the project halted construction, resulting in delays that pushed the actual opening of the airport, originally planned to take place before the transition in sovereignty until one year after. As agreements were reached with the government in China, Beijing removed most of its objections and work then continued, albeit behind schedule.Hong Kong International Airport was built on a large artificial island formed by flattening and levelling the former Chek Lap Kok and Lam Chau islands (3.02 square kilometres (1.17 sq mi) and 0.08 km2 (0.031 sq mi) respectively) and reclaiming 9.38 km2 (3.62 sq mi) of the adjacent seabed. The 12.48-square-kilometre (4.82 sq mi) airport site, with its reclamation, added nearly 1% to Hong Kong's total surface area, connecting to the north side of Lantau Island near Tung Chung new town.Construction of the new airport was only part of the Airport Core Programme, which also involved the construction of new roads and rail links to the airport, with associated bridges and tunnels, and major land reclamation projects on both Hong Kong Island and in Kowloon. The project holds the record for the most expensive airport project ever, according to Guinness World Records. Construction of the new airport was also voted as one of the Top 10 Construction Achievements of the 20th Century at the ConExpo conference in 1999.The detailed design for the airport terminal was awarded to a consortium led by Mott Connell (the Hong Kong office of UK consultant Mott MacDonald) with British Airports Authority as specialist designers for airport related aspects, Foster and Partners as architects and Ove Arup as specialist structural designers for the roof. Mott Connell were the designers for foundations, all other structural components and the mechanical and electrical work. The sides of the terminals, predominantly glass, were designed to break during high-speed winds, relieving pressure and allowing the terminal to withstand an intense typhoon.The airport was officially opened in an opening ceremony by the President of the People's Republic of China and General Secretary of the Communist Party Jiang Zemin at noon Hong Kong Time on 2 July 1998. Hours later, Air Force One, carrying the President of the United States Bill Clinton, landed at the new airport and became the first foreign visitor to arrive at the new airport. The actual operation of the airport commenced on 6 July 1998, concluding the six-year construction that cost US$20 billion. On that day at 06:25 Hong Kong Time, Cathay Pacific Flight CX 889 from New York JFK Airport became the first commercial flight to land at the airport, pipping the original CX 292 from Rome which was the scheduled first arrival. However, the airport had already started to experience some technical difficulties on the first day of opening. The flight information display system (FIDS) had suddenly shut down which caused long delays. Shortly afterwards, the cargo-communication link with Kai Tak, where all the necessary data was stored (some still stored there then), went down. During the same period of time, someone had accidentally deleted an important database for cargo services. This meant that cargo had to be manually stored. At one point, the airport had to turn away all air cargo and freight headed for and exported from Hong Kong (except food and medical supplies) while it sorted out the huge mess. HKIA simply could not keep up without an automated assistant-computer system. For three to five months after its opening, it suffered various severe organisational, mechanical and technical problems that almost crippled the airport and its operations. Computer glitches were mostly to blame for the major crisis. Lau Kong-wah, a Hong Kong politician, was quoted saying "This was meant to be a first-class project, but it has turned into a ninth-class airport and a disgrace. Our airport has become the laughing stock of the world." At one time, the government reopened the cargo terminal at Kai Tak Airport to handle freight traffic because of a breakdown at the new cargo terminal, named Super Terminal One (ST1). However, after six months the airport started to operate normally.
On 31 July 2000, Todd Salimuchai, a regularised illegal immigrant in Hong Kong with no provable nationality, forced his way through a security checkpoint using a fake pistol, took a woman hostage, and boarded a Cathay Pacific aircraft. He demanded to be flown to Burma, which he claimed was his native country but had refused to admit him due to his lack of documents. He surrendered to police two and a half hours later.Officially opened in June 2007, the second airport terminal, called T2, (check-in facility only) is linked with the MTR Airport Express on a new platform. The terminal also features a new shopping mall, SkyPlaza, providing a large variety of shops and restaurants, together with a few entertainment facilities. T2 also houses a 36-bay coach-station for buses to and from mainland China and 56 airline check-in counters, as well as customs and immigration facilities.
Besides T2, the SkyCity Nine Eagles Golf Course has been opened in 2007 whereas the second airport hotel, the Hong Kong SkyCity Marriott Hotel; and a permanent cross-boundary ferry terminal, the Skypier, began operations in 2008 and 2009 respectively. Development around T2 also includes the AsiaWorld-Expo which has started operation in late 2005. A second passenger concourse, the North Satellite Concourse (NSC), opened in 2010, followed by the Midfield Concourse in December 2015.During August 2019, the airport was shut down multiple times as demonstrations were held inside the airport during the 2019–20 Hong Kong protests, over 160 flights were cancelled as both the arrivals and departures sections of the airport were occupied.The third runway, known as the North Runway, opened in 2021, was the first part of the Hong Kong International Airport Master Plan 2030 to open. The Center runway was then closed to facilitate construction works and upgrades.