Update | Hong Kong Airport hikes fees on top of new passenger levy amid stalled traffic

Aircraft landing and parking fees in Hong Kong will go up from September as the city’s Airport Authority seeks more funding options for its proposed Third Runway. The double-digit hike is expected to worsen passenger traffic at the Hong Kong International Airport as passengers already face an extra levy of up to HK$180 per flight from August.

The government said on its website on Tuesday afternoon that it would gazette the new schedule of charges proposed by the Airport Authority on Friday and the same would be effective from September 1. The Airport Authority proposes to roughly restore aircraft landing and parking charges to the level before 2000, according to the notice. The fees were reduced by 15 per cent due to the then Asian financial crisis.

A Transport and Housing Bureau spokesman quoted in the notice said the fee hike is aimed at increasing the proportion of aeronautical revenue of the Airport Authority and to help fund the Third Runway.

The parking fees would rise immediately, while the landing fee would rise gradually over three years. The spokesman said none of the three trade organisations consulted – the International Air Transport Association, the Board of Airline Representatives Hong Kong and the Hong Kong Business Aviation Centre – raised any objections.

Sources said the Airport Authority was seeking to raise the fee by up to 20 per cent.

Currently the landing charge for aircraft heavier than 20 tonnes is HK$2,210 plus HK$63 for each additional tonne, according to government documents, meaning the biggest Airbus A380 double-decker costs around HK$37,175 to touch down.