Action at new airport produces results

(HONG KONG, 8 July 1998) -- The new Hong Kong International Airport continued to achieve improvements in its operations today in key fields including baggage handling, departure times and flight information displays.

Mr Clinton Leeks, Director of Corporate Development of the Airport Authority (AA), said that swift action had been taken to remedy areas which caused problems during the opening day of the new airport on July 6. Today over 50 per cent of departure flights left within one hour of the scheduled time and over 30 per cent within 30 minutes of the scheduled time. This compares with an average of 50 per cent for aircraft departing within 30 minutes of their scheduled time at Kai Tak.

A high-level group was set up yesterday (7 July) under the chairmanship of the AA Deputy Chief Executive Officer, Mr Billy Lam, to ensure that urgent action was taken, in co-ordination with business partners, to achieve immediate improvements. The membership of the group was broadly similar to that which ensured the successful relocation from Kai Tak to Chek Lap Kok on the night of 5/6 July. Airlines and other service providers are also playing a key role in ensuring that improvements are made and there will continue to be regular meetings and close liaison with the board of airline representatives and other business partners.

Baggage: A backlog of baggage from the first day had now been cleared and target service levels to passengers are now coming closer to being met, with passengers waiting on average 30 minutes for baggage, compared to 20 minutes at Kai Tak.

Ramp Handling: Services provided to aircraft by ramp handling companies had been co-ordinated and the use of resources optimised.

Information Display: The Flight Information Display System is now functioning more smoothly.

Restaurants: Action is in hand to improve water supply, air-conditioning and staffing availability to enable them to operate, where necessary, 24-hours a day.

Air Bridges: Technical problems which occurred at a few bridges on the first day have been resolved and arrangements made for an immediate response should any further problems occur.

Cleaning - Toilets: Arrangements have been made for every toilet to have an attendant to serve the facility and for the full cleaning of each toilet every two hours. Additional contractor resources have been deployed to achieve this target. Regular inspections are being made to confirm compliance.

Telephones: The completion of commissioning of all telephones has been accelerated with the target being to have all remaining telephones working by the end of this week.

Air-Conditioning: There are no problems in any of the areas used by the public. Air conditioning to the airline offices is to be completed shortly.

Escalators: Escalators are working more smoothly and teams are on stand-by to deal with any problems.

Signage: Additional temporary signs are being provided, particularly in the arrivals area.

"As a result of these and other measures the situation at the new airport is continuing to improve," said Mr Leeks. "This is shown in today's performance statistics for departures and baggage handling."

On 7 July, 40 per cent of flights departed within one hour of their scheduled time, as compared with over 50 per cent today. The remainder departed within two hours.

Ref. PR-364