Despite the catastrophic impact of the Covid-19 crisis on airline travel, China is pushing ahead with the construction of an airport cluster in the Guangdong-Hong Kong-Macau Greater Bay Area, in a bid to support its ambitious goals for this dynamic economic region of 70 million people.
Five main airports -- Hong Kong International Airport, Guangzhou Baiyun International Airport, Shenzhen Bao'an International Airport, Macau International Airport and Zhuhai Jinwan Airport -- as well as a group of feeder airports, will constitute the cluster that will be developed in two phases.
Phase one, due for completion in 2025, will establish a Greater Bay Area airport conglomerate, with greater interaction between the facilities. Phase 2 aims to lift all the airports to a world-class level by 2035 with "safe, green, smart, human and synergetic qualities".
Cluster development will build on the advantages that the airports in the Greater Bay Area (GBA) already have, such as diversified domestic and international flights, sound infrastructure and well-developed airlines.
Due to its easy accessibility by sea, river and air, the area is already the most prosperous in China. It will receive an additional boost with the development of a globally competitive airport cluster that further enhances Hong Kong's status as an international aviation hub.
Construction is already well under way with a satellite terminal in Shenzhen scheduled to be completed this year and put into use in 2021. In addition, Guangzhou airport is due to finish its expansion by 2025, which includes its fourth and fifth runways and a third terminal. Zhuhai airport is preparing to increase its capacity by 2027 with the construction of a second 190,000-square-metre terminal and the addition of 25 aircraft parking bays.
At the Asean summit in Thailand last year, Chinese Premier Li Keqiang and Thai Prime Minister Prayut Chan-o-cha signed an agreement to expand bilateral cooperation and connectivity between the GBA and Thailand's Eastern Economic Corridor (EEC).
With infrastructure a development lynchpin of both of these regions, Airports of Thailand Plc (AoT) has also focused on expanding its airport infrastructure. Currently AoT is building the third runway for Suvarnabhumi Airport as a part of its second-phase development under the 2015-22 transport infrastructure development plan approved by the cabinet in May 2015.
The cost of the third runway, which is 60 metres wide and 4,000 metres long, is estimated at 6.6 billion baht. Construction is expected to take approximately three years. Once it is complete, the airport will be capable of handling up to 94 flights per hour, as opposed to the current 68 flights, and a large proportion of those flights are certain to be coming from the GBA.
Suwatchai Songwanich is an executive vice-president with Bangkok Bank. For more columns in this series please visit www.bangkokbank.com