Greenest Airport

The operation and development of HKIA gives rise to a range of environmental impacts. Many of these are directly measurable and, taken together, represent the ‘environmental footprint’ of HKIA. We collaborate with our business partners and the aviation industry, and adopt a systematic ‘airport-wide’ approach to manage, reduce and mitigate the airport’s environmental footprint, with particular focus on the management of solid waste, carbon and energy management, and biodiversity.

Approach to Environmental Management

Objective

World’s Greenest Airport Pledge

Pledged to make HKIA the world’s greenest airport in May 2012. This serves as a goal and a driver to continuously improve HKIA’s environmental performance.

Foundation

Green Airport Benchmarking Study

Compared HKIA’s environmental performance with 23 other hub-sized airports and environmental leaders among airports worldwide.

Management Commitment

Corporate Environmental Policy

Demonstrates AAHK's commitment to environmental management and define the key focus areas.

Implementation Tool

Five-Year Environmental Plan

Sets out the actions and timeline in pursuit of the world’s greenest airport pledge.

In July 2016, we commissioned a consultancy study on the establishment and implementation of an ISO 14001-compliant environmental management system across AAHK to enhance the consistency and robustness of our environmental management plan and to better integrate environmental management into our core business and operation. We target to achieve the ISO 14001 certification in Q4 2017/18.

Engagement with the aviation industry

We regularly engage with our business partners, the airport community, and the wider aviation sector to address local and global environmental issues. Examples of these engagement activities during the year include:

  • In March 2017, we hosted the Airports Council International (ACI) World Environment Standing Committee meeting, at which 23 airport environmental managers, ACI representatives and aviation environmental experts came together to discuss the common and emerging environmental issues faced by the airport sector, including climate change, air quality and the illegal wildlife trade.
  • Engagement and consultation with the airlines and the International Air Transport Association (IATA) was conducted between August 2016 and January 2017 on the implementation of the HKIA Noise Quota Count Pilot Scheme. The Pilot Scheme helps to manage aircraft noise for the night period (between 2200-0659 Local Time) by incentivising airlines to deploy quieter aircraft at HKIA.

In March 2017, we hosted the Airports Council International (ACI) World Environment Standing Committee meeting, at which 23 airport environmental managers, ACI representatives and aviation environmental experts came together to discuss the common and emerging environmental issues faced by the airport sector, including climate change, air quality and the illegal wildlife trade.

Engagement and consultation with the airlines and the International Air Transport Association (IATA) was conducted between August 2016 and January 2017 on the implementation of the HKIA Noise Quota Count Pilot Scheme. The Pilot Scheme helps to manage aircraft noise for the night period (between 2200-0659 Local Time) by incentivising airlines to deploy quieter aircraft at HKIA.

HKIA Noise Quota Count Pilot Scheme

Q:What is ‘Quota Count’ (“QC”)?
A:

Each aircraft type is given a QC classification based on aircraft noise data in the U.S. Federal Aviation Administration (FAA)’s Integrated Noise Model. The smaller the QC value, the quieter the aircraft. For example, Boeing’s 747-400 is classified as QC/2 on landing and QC/4 on take-off, while the newer 787 is rated QC/0.25 on landing and QC/0.5 on take-off.

Aircraft noise level (in Effective Perceived
Noise in decibels (EPNdB))
Quota Count
84 – 86.9 QC/0.25
87 – 89.9 QC/0.5
90 – 92.9 QC/1
93 – 95.9 QC/2
96 – 98.9 QC/4
99 – 101.9 QC/8
> 101.9 QC/16

The Scheme sets an annual QC limit for the night period (between 2200-0659 Local Time) for each airline every year. While airlines are not allowed to exceed their annual QC limit, they have the flexibility to adjust their aircraft mix, including the deployment of quieter aircraft, in order to meet their operational needs and the traffic demand.

QC Schemes have been successfully adopted at European airports such as London Heathrow Airport and Brussels Airport.

Q:What are the benefits to HKIA?
A:By implementing the QC Pilot Scheme, airlines are incentivised to deploy quieter aircraft at HKIA. The Scheme also enables AAHK to control the total noise level of night flights at HKIA more effectively than by imposing restrictions solely based on the number of aircraft movements.
Q:What’s next?
A:

After consulting the airlines and the International Air Transport Association (IATA) between August 2016 and January 2017, the implementation of the QC Pilot Scheme began in Summer 2017.

We will monitor the QC Pilot Scheme to ensure its objectives are met, and stakeholders’ feedback on the Scheme will be properly addressed. An interim review will follow the first year of implementation.