Airsider | the hongkong report

The Hongkong Report

1. Foreword

Hongkong is a very small place, located in the Southern Pacific. But despite of the small size, this cityis one of the most important transportation-hubs in the world and surely the most important in the hole Asian-Pacific-Region.

This strong position in the transport market comes from Hongkong's very extensive history through the past century. As the English Crown-Colony, the Hongkong was growing very fast and the city became the door to mainland China. And because of political reasons, nearly all the business with China has to be done through Hongkong.

So, a lot of goods from China were passing Hongkong on the way to markets all over the world. The transportation-networks were growing very fast. Today, Hongkong has the biggest shipping-harbour with connections to all important ports all over the world.

As on sea, air transportation did also grow rapidly. When aviation started in Hongkong, the airport was a very small place. In the 1950ies, Hongkong became Asia's most important aviation hub. During the years, Kai Tak has been expanded for several times. The runway has been built into the sea to accommodate large aircraft such as the Boeing 747. But the government realised, that a completely new airport was needed, as there was no more space for expanding. And so, the airport, which probably had the most fans all over the world has been closed forever.

Two years ago, all flights are operating from Chek Lap Kok airport, a completely new airport on an island. There have been some troubles, when operations started at the new site, but since everything has been fixed, the new airport is setting superlatives in quality and comfort for passengers.

And even air cargo is a very important for Chek Lap Kok. As one of the biggest hubs in the world, Hongkong is served by nearly 50 freighters per day!

We would like to thank the following companies and organisations for their help during the development of this report, especially through our visit in Hongkong in November 2000. This report would not be possible in this form without their support: