As the world population grows and the need for fast movement of freight increases, airports worldwide are facing the need to build more runways. At Hong Kong International Airport where cargo volume has increased from 1.63 million tonnes in 1998 to 4.38 million in 2014, the need for a third runway is evident. Trading and logistics make up 23.9 percent of Hong Kong’s GDP, so it is no surprise that HKIA’s capacity crunch has prompted studies and planning for a third runway.
HKIA believes that if work can start in 2016, a third 3,800-meter runway could be a reality in eight years. It’s a complex project, since 650 hectares of land will have to be created, using non-dredge methods, to increase the size of Lantau Island. The total cost to build the runway is estimated at HK $141.5 billion, with $36.8 billion of that for land formation. But Hong Kong is facing competition from several of its growing Asian neighbors.
Seoul’s Incheon Airport will construct a fourth and fifth runway beginning in 2020; Singapore Changi is planning to convert a military runway into a third commercial runway in 2020; Guangzhou Baiyun will construct a fourth and fifth runway in 2020; Shanghai Pudong will construct a fifth runway in 2017; and Shenzhen Bao’an is constructing a third runway in 2018.
In the U.K., the British International Freight Association (BIFA) is growing frustrated with the country’s infrastructure and is calling for a greater investment in air cargo facilities and a new runway at London Heathrow. An emergency budget approved July 8 by Chancellor of the Exchequer George Osborne was initially greeted as a positive sign, but it did not specifically earmark money for a third runway.
The prolonged delay over when and whether to extend runway capacity in Southeast England is perhaps the most extreme example of the procrastination that is at the heart of the U.K.’s transport policy, BIFA said. “It is time to get down to some long-term, strategic airport planning before the UK finally and irrevocably runs out of airport capacity,” said Robert Keen, director general of the BIFA.
The debate over where to build a new runway in Southeast England has been ongoing for 25 years, with residential opposition to expansion at London Heathrow the biggest concern. An independent government-appointed commission published a long-delayed report in July, recommending Heathrow as the site for a new runway, but representatives of nearby Gatwick say the numbers in the report are flawed. Boris Johnson, the flamboyant mayor of London, has publicly expressed his opposition to an additional runway at Heathrow. Prime Minister David Cameron said he will make a decision by the end of the year on whether it should be built at Gatwick or Heathrow, but many political commentators expect that his “decision” will be to postpone a real decision once again.