Hong Kong opened its new, third runway at its airport on Friday morning, part of a HK$141.5 billion (US$18 billion) project that will increase its footprint by 50 percent, adding 650 hectares (1,606 acres), equivalent to the size of Gibraltar.

Also under construction is a HK$20 billion entertainment, retail and commercial complex being built by local conglomerate New World Development Co. that will be larger than New York’s Grand Central Terminal.

It’s all designed to solidify the city’s role as a global aviation hub but comes at a time when the government’s flight bans and quarantine rules have crushed demand for air travel to and from Hong Kong.

Hong Kong on Thursday announced it would suspend a system that banned airline routes that brought infected passengers to the city. The policy had led to the temporary cessation of 100 flight routes this year, discouraging carriers from flying to the financial hub.

Hong Kong airport’s current expansion project is the biggest since the airfield opened in 1998, having been at the center of a controversy between China and the UK.

The British colonial government announced a replacement for Kai Tak, the cramped, World War Two-era airport near the city center, about a decade before the return to Chinese rule, but Beijing officials were angry about the plans to finance it.

Still, all was quickly forgiven as Hong Kong International Airport became critical in solidifying Hong Kong’s role as a global hub for aviation. By 2018, more than 74 million passengers traveled through it, compared to 29.5 million at Kai Tak in 1996.

Hong Kong has retained its status as the world’s busiest air cargo hub, a rare bright spot in the pandemic. However, the city’s standing as a hub in global shipping could be a cautionary tale: As recently as 2004, Hong Kong’s port was the world’s busiest, but it now is a distant No. 9, with Shanghai the undisputed frontrunner.

With bigger facilities, more domestic flight connections and easier transfers, China’s airports are on a course to grow their slice of the pie for both passenger and cargo traffic at Hong Kong’s expense.

Beijing’s 80-billion-yuan (US$11.9 billion) Daxing airport opened in 2019. Shanghai, Guangzhou and other cities are expanding aggressively, too.

Neighboring Guangzhou, with its heavy focus on domestic China travel, leapfrogged Hong Kong to fly 73.3 million passengers in 2019.

Reestablishing flights and routes for hubs like Hong Kong would require a lot of work, said Joanna Lu, head of Asia consultancy with aviation services firm Ascend by Cirium. “Market demand would be very different from pre-Covid times,” she said, pointing to the desire of mainland travelers to fly direct rather than transfer through Hong Kong.

To make travel to and from the mainland easier, the government is considering introducing pre-clearance Chinese customs and immigration facilities in Hong Kong. Travelers from Hong Kong could therefore arrive in China as domestic passengers.

The authority also wants more transportation links between the airport and cities in Guangdong province, as part of the central government’s plan to integrate the region into what it calls the Greater Bay Area.

“All the money is spent well for the future,” said Algernon Yau, former CEO of Greater Bay Airlines who this month joined new Chief Executive John Lee’s government as Secretary for Commerce and Economic Development. “Hong Kong’s future needs investment and all the money put in 11 Skies and the third runway is planning for a bright future,” he said, referring to the new entertainment precinct.

Hong Kong’s status as an aviation hub hasn’t suffered permanent damage, Cathay Pacific CEO Augustus Tang told Bloomberg News in an interview on June 15.

“Now suffice to say that if Hong Kong remains closed for an extended period,” he said, “obviously, there will be impact.”

Speaking at a public forum on May 26, Fred Lam, the CEO of the AAHK, was optimistic about a rebound. “I hope that air traffic will soon return to the great heights we experienced prior to the pandemic and even surpass these previous levels so that Hong Kong will continue to be a shining city,” he said.

There is still time before the expanded airport is fully operational. With the new runway now open -- Cathay Pacific landed its first commercial flight there, a Boeing 747-400F freighter from Shanghai, Friday morning -- the AAHK will close one of the two existing ones for an upgrade. The authority expects that work to conclude in 2024.

(Bloomberg)

HKIA. (File)

The new runway tarmac as it was completed in 2022. (HKIA)

Hong Kong International Airport welcomes third runway