Airport Authority’s Response on Media Enquiry

(Hong Kong, 2 February 2024, 2100hrs) – Hong Kong International Airport (HKIA) is expanding into a Three-Runway System (3RS), which will increase its passenger and cargo capacity to handle 120 million passengers and 10 million tonnes of cargo annually.

The 3RS project includes construction of the Third Runway, expansion of the Terminal 2 (T2), construction of the T2 Concourse, reconfiguration of the Centre Runway, and the construction and installation of related infrastructure and systems. The new Third Runway has already been commissioned in November 2022, while the reconfiguration of the Centre runway is continuing as planned. With various programme control and enhancement measures in place during the pandemic, works of the 3RS project progress steadily on all fronts with the target to complete the 3RS on time and as planned in 2024, with all three runways operating.

Passenger traffic at HKIA has recovered to about 80% of the pre-pandemic level, and is expected to fully recover to the pre-pandemic level, or around 70 million, by the end of 2024. The existing facilities of Terminal 1 are designed to handle up to 80 million passengers annually. AAHK will deploy a flexible phasing strategy for the commissioning of the new 3RS passenger facilities, in order to align with the progress of the post-pandemic air traffic recovery and the prevailing passenger demand.