Hong Kong International Airport’s 25th Anniversary

25 years ago today, after a frenzy of construction activity, Hong Kong’s International Airport opened at Chek Lap Kok. The night before, Kai Tak airport in the centre of Kowloon City had welcomed its last flights and departures and overnight a huge logistics operation swung into action. If you ever landed at Kai Tak, you will never forget the stomach churning approach but the new airport became a much emulated jewel in the crown of Hong Kong.

Having spent 4 years working on the airport’s landside infrastructure contract with a great team of young engineers and quantity surveyors, being part of this world class mega project remains one of my career highlights.

That experience has served me in good stead on subsequent HK airport projects, through the midfield terminal development and onto the current third runway scheme.

So to celebrate 25 years, here’s a few photos from the Terminal Building construction and a photo from the approach to Kai Tak (I wish we’d had digital cameras back then!).