Hong Kong International Airport’s Airport Authority has invited bids to build a massive structure across the airfield to link the North Satellite Concourse with the main airport building. Currently, the North Satellite terminal is only accessible via a shuttle bus.
Airlines say this proposal will further improve the passenger experience at one of the world’s most highly rated airports.
The tender contract is expected to be issued in the third quarter of 2017, and construction would take at least two years, as reported in the South China Morning Post. Few details have been announced, though the bridge is expected to cost at least HKD2 billion, based on previous creations and factoring inflation and higher construction costs locally.
The proposed new bridge to link the North Satellite Concourse with the main airport building
will be high enough to allow the A380 to cross underneath (Photo: Handout)
London’s Gatwick Airport boasts a similar bridge, built in 2004, which cost £110 million (HKD1.1 billion). At 194 metres long and 32 metres high, it is the world’s biggest bridge inside an airport, high enough to give clearance to the Airbus A380 aircraft, the world’s largest passenger plane. According to Gatwick Airport, the bridge saves 55,000 transfer bus journeys a year.
Gatwick Airport’s 194-metre-long bridge saves 55,000 transfer bus journeys a year
(Photo: Gatwick Airport)
The proposed elevated walkway at Hong Kong airport will also accommodate retail facilities, moving walkways, lifts and escalators.
Hong Kong airport is in the early stages of a wider expansion. A land reclamation project for a third runway, expected to cost HKD141 billion, is due to be completed by 2024.
The main departure and arrival concourse is being enlarged and a 25-hectare shopping complex, Skycity, is also being built on the island. — Construction+ Online
