Zhuhai signs willingness to relieve Hong Kong flight burden

Travelers arrive at the Terminal 2 of Hong Kong’s airport

Zhuhai Jinwan Airport is bidding for a permit that would allow it to ease the international congestion of business jets and helicopters at nearby Hong Kong International Airport.
The Zhuhai airport, in which the Hong Kong Airport Authority owns a majority share, will aim to secure the permit by next year its general manager, Albert Yau, told the South China Morning Times (SCMP).
“That would mean business jets coming from anywhere could land and offload passengers in Zhuhai directly, instead of having to wait for hours and get undesirable slots in Hong Kong,” he told the newspaper.
Yau added that a short helicopter trip between the two airports – amounting to a brief 20 minutes – would also be able to transport passengers faster than the Hong Kong-Zhuhai-Macau Bridge currently under construction and slated to open in 2018.
“This would be the best solution to relieve Hong Kong airport’s ramp until the third runway is built,” Charlie Mularski, chairman of the Asian Business Aviation Association, told the SCMP.
Though it will be cheaper for carriers to land and park in Zhuhai than in Hong Kong, they will still have to pay an “administration fee” of USD3,800 every time a non-
mainland aircraft crosses into Chinese airspace. Mularski says that his organization is lobbying to have this fee scrapped.
Zhuhai airport is the Pearl River Delta region’s least-
used airport, holding a 66,000 square meter air show center adjacent to the airport that sits mostly empty,
and could host up to 50 large business jets. The airport currently receives no international flights.