Airline News
Hong Kong seeks way out of capacity crunch
November 6th 2015
The controversy over the planned third runway at Hong Kong International Airport (HKIA) continues to bubble away. Read More » This week, the city’s Airport Authority (AA) told lawmakers it might boost take-offs at night to tackle a looming capacity crunch before the new third HK$141.5 billion ($18.26 billion) runway will be operational from 2023, according to the latest plans.
Daytime capacity could be raised from the present maximum of 68 take-offs and landings an hour, which the operator said would be reached next year, to 70 movements, AA chief, Fred Lam Tin-fuk, told the South China Morning Post (SCMP). "We are conducting a study to see if we can make use of technology to increase the number from 68 onwards," Lam said, but cautioned any increase "would be very limited, to 70 air traffic movements [ATMs], but it would be of extra help to the capacity of the airport as a whole".
The AA boss added night-time capacity, limited to 37 ATMs an hour to keep noise levels down, could be increased by granting new take-off and landing slots to quieter, more fuel-efficient aircraft. This would be the subject of another study, to take up to two years, Lam told lawmakers, but stressed it would in no way "replace the need" for the third runway, which some critics say is unnecessary.
Hong Kong's new air traffic control (ATC) system, delayed by three years and under fire for being HK$89.2 million over budget, at HK$575.2 million, will not go into operation “until it is proven safe and reliable,” the government announced. This is in response to a "catastrophic failure" of the system last year when controllers lost track of aircraft for ten seconds during a test run. Following more testing, the system is expected to be operational during the first-half of 2016. The need for the updated system could not be more severe, given news emerged this week that HKIA’s ATC system is being propped up by air conditioners blasting cold air directly at machines that overheat easily to avert breakdowns.
Frontline ATC staff, speaking on condition of anonymity, told the SCMP the system’s screens would sometimes freeze, requiring a reboot that takes up to ten minutes. They alleged the department had not trained controllers to deal with the situation, so they had to improvise, a claim denied by the authorities.
One air traffic controller said: "If you ask me about safety, if it's safe, I would say it is not, because to us every minute matters, every second matters,” adding: "If you allow me 30 seconds not to look at my flight radar console screen, that's OK. But when it freezes, the console doesn't tell you it freezes, so you still look at the screen and talk until you realise it's frozen and aircraft have stopped moving on the screen. And then you know it's crashed."
