Transportation Centre Offers Ease and Efficiency

(HONG KONG, 13 June 1998) -- An integrated transportation centre at the new Hong Kong International Airport at Chek Lap Kok will offer un-rivalled efficiency in helping people to travel to and from their flights, and to greet friends and relatives.

In the period from now to airport opening, transport facilities and roads at Chek Lap Kok will open progressively, to give people an opportunity to familiarise themselves with different modes of transport.

The final airport trial, on Sunday, June 14, involving four aircraft landings and some 10 000 participants, will utilise all transport modes to and from Chek Lap Kok. On Friday, June 19, and Saturday, June 20, main access roads on the airport island up to the passenger terminal building will be opened to motorists, although no stopping or sightseeing will be allowed. On June 22, the MTR Tung Chung Line will start operations. From the same day onwards, 19 bus routes will provide services to destinations on the airport island to assist workers and staff involved in final completion work.

Mr Kalid Razack, General Manager - Landside Operations of the Airport Authority said today: "At many airports around the world people find that the most stressful experience is not the flight itself, but the journey to and from the airport."

Mr Razack added that the Ground Transportation Centre at the new airport is, perhaps, unique in the way in which it offers easy and convenient access to all forms of transport.

Mr Razack said that to passengers and the public the centre would seem an integral part of the passenger terminal building. In moving to and from their choice of transport the public would be under cover at all times. For the Airport Express railway, the platform for departing passengers is located opposite the check-in desks at the passenger terminal. The train then changes level to wait at the same level as arriving passengers, offering them the opportunity to travel downtown without any level change between leaving their aircraft seats and boarding the train.

Airport buses will also be accessed simply, he said. "Airbus" services will drop off departing passengers at the departures kerb, while other franchised bus services will set them down at the bus station immediately to the south of the transportation centre - where passengers heading downtown by bus will also be picked up. A bus station at the ferry pier allows easy access to and from the ferry service which links the new airport and Tuen Mun.

There are also taxi stands arranged in a pattern that allows 24 taxis to be loaded simultaneously. A staging area will accommodate 530 taxis from which the stands will be fed. Urban, New Territories and Lantau taxis will all serve the terminal. For departing passengers, taxis will be able to stop at the kerb, choosing the appropriate zone for the airline concerned, as indicated by clear advance information signs. Baggage trolleys will be available at the kerbside.

For hotel limousines and buses, customers can also be dropped off at the departures kerb. For arriving customers, hotel vehicles will be called forward from the staging area. Tour coaches will also set down at the departures kerb and will pick up from the 18-bay tour coach station.

"All in all, we have made sure that travellers have the easiest access possible to whichever form of public transport they choose to use," he said.

Mr Razack added that there are four car parks at the terminal building, offering some 3,100 spaces. All airport roads will open to general traffic on July 6.

Ref. PR-351