AIRPORTS ARE GROWING everywhere, but nowhere are they expanding as rapidly as in Asia. In fact, passenger and freight traffic has been increasing at such a rate that regional airports can hardly cope with the demand. Existing hubs are continually being improved and new ones planned and built.
In Asia-Pacific, the rise in air traffic is double the global average and in response airports are being upgraded as fast as possible. In fact, this is only the continuation of a process which has already begun - the past decade has seen the completion of major hub-airport projects across the region such as Kansai, Kuala Lumpur, Seoul, Shanghai, Hong Kong and recently Bangkok.
Since it was completed in 1998, Hong Kong International Airport has become one of the busiest in the world. Last year it handled nearly 41 million passengers and 4million tonnes of cargo, making it comfortably the biggest air transport hub in the region.
The airport employs more than 55,000 people and is growing at 8 per cent to 9 per cent a year. It shows little sign of slowing down.
'The airport will continue to expand. It is a non-stop process,' said Airport Authority Hong Kong commercial director Hans Bakker. 'We are a relatively new industry and the indications are that we will continue expanding.'
The completion of new aircraft hangars is set to provide almost 1,500 new jobs over the next year, with many vacancies in the technical and engineering fields and hundreds of extra jobs on offer as a result of extra cargo handling.
Hundreds of new jobs will also be provided by the opening of the airport's second terminal, also known as Sky Plaza, which is scheduled to take place before the end of this year. More than 1,500 jobs will be generated by retail and catering requirements alone.
