5TH ANNUAL AETROPOLIS AEROHUB SUMMIT HONG KONG
OVERVIEW
Airports are no longer just locations where aircraft land and depart. They are now destinations where businesses grow, people live and development flourishes. Crowned as one of the busiest cargo airports in the world, Hong Kong International Airport witnesses 68 take-offs and landings of cargo flights per hour and served 74.7 million passengers last year. The pandemic doesn鈥檛 seem to have slowed things down as global air traffic in 2023 sat at 8.6 billion, which is 94.2% of 2019 numbers.
Air traffic numbers are only expected to higher from here. In 2020, the Airport Authority of Hong Kong (AAHK) announce of their HKD40 billion (USD5.124 billion) investment as a part of its 10-year plan to support a series of projects to develop the Hong Kong International Airport City. The plan which would be implemented progressively aims to enhance the airport鈥檚 capacity and functionality while transforming it into a new landmark and propelling the economic development of Hong Kong and the region forward. Among the projects include the Hong Kong Boundary Crossing Facilities (HKBCF) Island development and the SKYCITY and the Asia World Expo (AWE) Phase II development.
In Australia, The NSW government has unveiled plans for its 114-hectare aerotropolis near Western Sydney International Airport (WSI), which it says will be five times the size of Barangaroo. Backed by more than AUD1 billion from the Australian state government, it is hoped that the Bradfield City Centre will be established in line with the opening of WSI in 2026. The draft Master Plan, includes more than two million square metres of gross floor area of development near the airport, with plans for 10,000 homes, roads, green space, commercial and retail precincts, and much needed infrastructure which will deliver 20,000 direct jobs.