HKIA gets US$600 million loan for third runway

Airport Authority Hong Kong has signed a five-year, $600 million evolving credit facility with 21 local and international banks participating, to help finance the expansion to a three-runway airport.

Jack So Chak-kwong, the authority’s chairman, said a third runway is vital for HKIA’s cargo business, which handled 4.38 million tonnes in 2014 – a 6 percent rise over the previous year. For the first six months of 2015, cargo traffic at HKIA was mostly flat, rising just 0.6 percent, year-over-year. Cargo traffic, HKIA added, has been impacted by the economic weakness in the Eurozone, while regional traffic ebbed due to the slowdown in Asian trade.