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Hong Kong International Airport traffic grows and Hong Kong Airlines breaks ground on training facility
March 11th 2016
Hong Kong International Airport (HKIA) this week reported 13.3% passenger and 1.5% cargo growth for January, along with a 5.4% increase in aircraft movements compared with 2015. Read More » As Hong Kong seeks to reassert itself as the region’s dominant transfer hub, its second-largest home player, HNA Group’s Hong Kong Airlines, broke ground, in Hong Kong, on its first training centre near HKIA on Wednesday.
Coinciding with the carrier’s 10th anniversary, the ground breaking for the Hong Kong Airlines Aviation Training Centre (HKAATC) was officiated by Hong Kong secretary for transport and housing, Prof. Anthony Cheung, permanent secretary for transport and housing, Joseph Lai, Airport Authority Hong Kong CEO, Fred Lam, director-general of civil aviation, Norman Lo, and Hong Kong Airlines president, Zhang Kui.
The facility will house up to twelve full-flight simulators, a safety training centre with a full-sized aircraft cabin mock-up, facilities for training crew in fire and smoke related evacuations and a training pool and emergency slides for evacuation practice. The HK$1.8 billion (US$232.3 million), eleven-storey centre is scheduled for completion in 2018.
HKAATC “marks a new starting point for our development,” said airline president Zhang. “The centre will enhance the training standards of Hong Kong’s aviation industry and strengthen Hong Kong's position as an international aviation hub.”
