Grand opening of Midfield Concourse celebrated by HKIA

The ongoing development of Hong Kong International Airport (HKIA) reached another milestone on March 31, with the grand opening of its Midfield Concourse (MFC) in a ceremony held by the Airport Authority Hong Kong (AA). In excess of 200 business partners, government officials, industry members and additional guests attended, with the ceremony being officiated by Jack So Chak-kwong, Chairman of the AA; Carrie Lam Cheng Yuet-ngor, Chief Secretary for Administration; Professor Anthony Cheung Bing-leung, Secretary for Transport and Housing; and Fred Lam, Chief Executive Officer of the AA.
Mr So thanked all those involved in its on-time and on-budget construction, saying that “The Concourse is an important development project that will help HKIA meet increasing traffic demand in the medium term, as we work towards completion of the Three-runway System. Incorporating numerous green features, the facility was designed with environmental sustainability in mind.”
Mrs Lam said, “HKIA, connecting Hong Kong to about 190 cities in the Mainland and overseas, is the most important transport infrastructure maintaining Hong Kong’s external connections, as well as an engine for our city’s economic growth. The outstanding achievement of HKIA today is attributable to the collective efforts of HKIA’s business partners, the aviation services sector, the relevant government departments and every stakeholder in society. My congratulations on the full operation of the MFC and I wish the business of our airport will continue to prosper.”
Located between HKIA’s two existing runways and to the west of Terminal 1, the five-storey concourse, which covers an area of 105,000-square-meters, has created 20 parking positions while also increasing the ratio of passengers boarding and disembarking aircraft through the use of airbridges. Passengers are now able to access the MFC from Terminal 1 via an extension to the Automated People Mover system.
Functioning at full capacity, the MFC now handles approximately 230 flights daily, accounting for roughly 20% of HKIA’s daily passenger flights. In the long term, the new concourse should increase HKIA’s handling capacity by 10 million passengers per annum.