Airport comes of age after Kai Tak test

The airport celebrated its 25th anniversary yesterday in suitable fashion with music and dance as expectations run high the third runway will be up and running by the end of next year.

The celebrations come a quarter of a century after the baton was passed to Chek Lap Kok by the former airport at Kai Tak after 73 storied years.

Drum and harmonica performances were also held in the morning, with the 10-minute dance seeing airport staff - from pilots, flight attendants, security and trolly assistants - letting their hair down.

A cake-cutting ceremony was then hosted by Undersecretary for Transport & Logistics Liu Chun-san, Airport Authority chairman Jack So Chak-kwong and chief executive Fred Lam Tin-fuk. Souvenirs were also given out to tourists.

Opened in 1998, the airport connects 220 global destinations and is the world's busiest international cargo facility, with around 120 airlines operating.

When the third runway, which has already been completed on time and within the budget, comes on stream, capacity is expected to go up by 50 percent.

New facilities and services are up and running, including a Sky Bridge, a two-story children's playground, and a 24/7 food court.

The airport has fully implemented the biometric-based flight token system, which allows passengers to use face identification from check-in to boarding.

It is also actively increasing cargo handling capacity. DHL Express has expanded its Central Asia Hub located in Chek Lap Kok, while the premium logistics center of Alibaba Group's Cainiao Network is substantially complete.

The former airport at Kai Tak won infamy as one of the most dangerous airports in the world with its sole runway and in being by the dense residential collection of buildings on the Kowloon peninsula.

The challenge for pilots was in the manual landings, with a checkerboard hung on mountain slopes to tell them where to make the final approach.

Planes then had to make a 47-degree turn below 152.4 meters to line up with the runway, with the landings known as the "Kai Tak Heart Attack."

It was the third busiest airport for international passengers and first for international cargo throughput in the world by 1996.

Kai Tak closed after Cathay Pacific's CX251, the last commercial flight, took off for Heathrow Airport at 12.02 am on July 6, 1998.

Speaking on BBC's World Service program, Witness History, CX251 captain Kim Sharman described the then airport at Kai Tak as a monumental piece of engineering.

"Some [Boeing 747s] swooping over streets, they are [flying] very low but it was legal. I wracked my brain trying to think of another airport that was of the same difficulty but there weren't any,' Sharman said.

Thousands gathered on the streets to witness the takeoff and to bid a truly fond farewell to a landmark that was a vital part of Hong Kong's formative years.