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Following is a question by the Hon Wu Chi-wai and a written reply by the Secretary for Transport and Housing, Professor Anthony Cheung Bing-leung, in the Legislative Council today (February 25):
Question:
Regarding the development of Hong Kong's air freight industry, will the Government inform this Council:
(1) of the respective current numbers of agreements on the Freedoms of the Air (also known as "Freedom Rights") which have been signed between Hong Kong and other states/places, broken down by the categories of Freedom Rights (i.e. the First to the Ninth Freedom Rights) as defined by the International Civil Aviation Organization;
(2) of the total number of destinations to which Hong Kong is connected as at the fourth quarter of 2014 and, among such destinations, the number of those with connections provided by low-cost carriers (LCCs) and the weekly number of related flights; the respective numbers of flights operated weekly by LCCs under the Third, Fourth, Fifth and Seventh Freedom Rights agreements, and their respective percentages in the total numbers of the relevant flights, as well as the respective numbers of unused flight frequencies under such Freedom Rights agreements;
(3) of the states/places with which the authorities had held negotiation, as at the end of 2014, for increasing the number of destinations under the Third, Fourth, Fifth and Seventh Freedom Rights; the number of new destinations added in the past three years and, among such destinations, which destinations are currently connected by LCCs;
(4) of the details of the negotiations between the Government and the mainland authorities in the past three years in respect of destination development plans, and the details of those destinations involving connection provided by LCCs;
(5) whether any mechanism is in place at present whereby the authorities of Hong Kong, Macau and the Mainland can notify one another of the situations of their respective negotiations with other states/places on Freedom Rights; if so, of the details, and whether it knows the destination development plans in the next five years of the airports in neighbouring cities such as Shenzhen and Guangzhou;
(6) whether it knows the plans of the various airports in the Pearl River Delta Region in the next five years to develop LCCs' services; whether the Government will advise the Airport Authority to make reference to the practices of Kansai International Airport in Japan and Changi Airport in Singapore, and to build an air passenger terminal building dedicated for LCCs, so as to attract the anchoring of LCCs and promote diversification in the development of Hong Kong's air freight industry; if it will give such advice, of the details, if not, the reasons for that;
(7) whether it has assessed the impacts on the overall competitiveness of Hong Kong's air freight industry if Hong Kong does not actively promote the development of services by LCCs; whether the authorities have other new plans to strengthen the international status of Hong Kong's air freight industry, apart from the proposed third runway; and
(8) whether it has studied the air cargo development plans in the next five years of the airports in neighbouring cities; if it has, of the details?
Reply:
President,
My consolidated reply to the various parts of the question raised by the Hon Wu Chi-wai is set out as follows:
Air services agreements and traffic rights
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With reference to Article 133 of the Basic Law, acting under specific authorisations from the Central People's Government, the Government of the Hong Kong Special Administrative Region may negotiate and conclude new air services agreements with foreign states or regions.
The Government has been keen to expand Hong Kong's external aviation links, as well as bilateral air services agreements (ASAs) and arrangements with aviation partners so as to facilitate the sustained growth and development of our aviation industry. So far, Hong Kong has signed ASAs with 63 aviation partners which enable the aviation industry to respond promptly to market demand by expanding its passenger and freighter services. In 2014, we signed a new ASA with the Republic of Madagascar as well as reviewed and expanded the air services arrangements with 10 other aviation partners (namely the mainland of China (the Mainland), Cambodia, Germany, Luxembourg, Papua New Guinea, Seychelles, New Zealand, Thailand, the Philippines and Italy).
Air traffic rights negotiated between Hong Kong and other foreign states/regions are recorded under a bilateral Confidential Memorandum of Understanding (CMOU). As each CMOU includes details of the bilateral negotiations and sensitive information concerning air traffic rights, we would not disclose the details to third parties. Similarly, Hong Kong is not informed of the status of traffic rights negotiated by the Mainland and Macau with other countries/regions.
As far as the Mainland is concerned, we signed in February 2000 the "Air Services Arrangement between the Mainland and the Hong Kong Special Administrative Region" (the Arrangement). Both sides have reviewed and expanded the Arrangement from time to time since then. We have recently expanded the Arrangement with the Civil Aviation Administration of China in December 2014. The Arrangement now provides 66 scheduled points between the Mainland and Hong Kong, and has created commercial opportunities for both sides and facilitated the development of passenger and freighter services between Hong Kong and the Mainland.
Low-cost carriers
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The Government believes that the promotion of sustainable competition, enhancement in economic efficiency and advocacy of free trade would ultimately benefit both the commercial sector and consumers at large. In terms of air services, the Government welcomes all carriers to operate services to and from Hong Kong, be they full-service carriers (FSCs) or low-cost carriers (LCCs), so as to foster the development of air services in Hong Kong and encourage market competition.
As at the fourth quarter of 2014, Hong Kong is connected to about 180 destinations, among which LCCs serve 26 of them, mainly covering places in the Mainland, Southeast Asia and Northeast Asia. Currently, a total of 16 LCCs are providing scheduled flights to and from Hong Kong. The annual flight movements handled by Hong Kong International Airport (HKIA) in 2014 were about 391 000, in which 33 500 were operated by LCCs.
According to figures provided by the Airport Authority Hong Kong (AA), excluding new destinations that have already ceased operation, the net increase in the number of new destinations served by airlines amounts to 19 in 2013/14 as compared with 2010/11. Among the 19 new destinations, three of them are served both by FSCs and LCCs, one is served only by LCCs and the rest are served only by FSCs.
The AA has made available airport facilities which cater to the typical operation needs of LCCs. Such facilities include direct taxi-in and taxi-out parking stands that allow short turn-around time of aircraft, and parking stands designed for narrow-body aircraft, which levy a lower parking charge and are commonly used by LCCs.
Strengthening Hong Kong's status as an international aviation hub and the competitiveness of the aviation industry
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Prior to the implementation of the Three-Runway System Project to meet the long-term air traffic demand at HKIA, in order to cater for short and medium-term demand, the AA is implementing a midfield development project to build a passenger concourse with 20 aircraft parking stands. The project commenced construction in late 2011 and is expected to complete by the end of this year. Upon completion and operation of the midfield concourse, HKIA will be able to handle an additional 10 million passengers annually. The AA has also completed its West Apron expansion project which provides 28 parking stands, a cross-runway vehicular tunnel and other related supporting facilities.
At the same time, in order to boost the competitiveness of Hong Kong's aviation industry, the Government also attaches great importance to manpower training so as to support the sustainable development of the maritime and aviation industries. We set up the Maritime and Aviation Training Fund on April 1, 2014. With the $100-million funding provided by the Government, we have launched a number of training and incentive schemes which seek to provide support to more young students or in-service practitioners to undertake relevant skills training and pursue professional undergraduate studies, and encourage them to join the maritime and aviation industries, thereby enhancing the overall competency and professionalism of the sectors. Meanwhile, the Civil Aviation Department has engaged a consultant to carry out a feasibility study on establishing a civil aviation training institute in Hong Kong. With the feasibility study commenced in mid-2014, the consultant has consulted the stakeholders of the aviation industry, and contacted local and overseas aviation organisations and training institutes to collect information and invite their comments. The study is expected to be completed in early this year. The Government will follow up on the findings of the feasibility study, and examine the detailed arrangements for establishing Hong Kong's own civil aviation training institute.
To further strengthen Hong Kong's status as an international aviation centre and to capitalise on our edge as a financial centre, the Chief Executive announced in this year's Policy Address a study on the development of Hong Kong's aerospace financing business so as to grasp the market opportunity made possible by the rapid development of the Mainland's aviation industry in recent years.
When planning for the development of HKIA, the AA has always been paying close attention to and studying the development of other airports in the Pearl River Delta (PRD) region, including air traffic demand and expansion plans of individual airports. Where development plans of destinations of other airports in the PRD region are concerned, these involve sensitive commercial data in relation to these airports. The AA's study has not covered these areas.
Ends/Wednesday, February 25, 2015
Issued at HKT 14:40
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