Construction Works Schedule
and Location Plans
Expansion of Hong Kong International Airport into
a Three-Runway System
April 2026
Airport
Authority


Contents
2 Overall
Phasing Programme of Construction Works
3 Status of
the Submarine Aviation Fuel Pipeline Diversion by Horizontal Directional
Drilling
4 Status of
the Submarine Cable Diversion
5 Status
for the Land Formation Works
6 Location
Plan for Construction Works
II.
Location Plans for Construction Works
The Environmental Impact Assessment (EIA)
Report (Register No.: AEIAR-185/2014) prepared for the “Expansion of Hong Kong
International Airport into a Three-Runway System” (the Project) has been
approved by the Director of Environmental Protection, and an Environmental
Permit (EP) (Permit No.: EP-489/2014) has been issued for the project under the
Environmental Impact Assessment Ordinance.
The first submission of Construction Works
Schedule and Location Plans (CWSLP), in compliance with Condition 2.5 of the
EP, was made to the Environmental Protection Department (EPD) on 18 September 2015, and finalized and released via the
project’s dedicated website in October 2015. This updated submission presents
the latest programme of construction works and location plans as of March 2026.
The structure of this submission includes the
following:
a) An overall phasing programme of
construction works (in Section 2);
b) Status of the HDD works for the
diversion of submarine aviation fuel pipeline (in Section 3);
c) Status of the diversion of the
submarine cable (in Section 4);
d) Status of land formation works (in
Section 5); and
e) Location plans of the construction works (in Section 6).
The new North Runway was commissioned in
November 2022 and following the completion of the
reconfiguration works of the Centre Runway, the Three‑Runway System (3RS)
commenced full operations on 28 November 2024. The updated overall phasing
programme as of March 2026 is provided in Attachment I.
The diversion of submarine aviation fuel pipelines and submarine power cable,
and the marine-based deep cement mixing (DCM) for ground improvement works were
completed. The expanded Terminal 2 (T2) is being brought into operation in
phases, with the first phase operation commenced on 23 September 2025.
The remaining construction activities include concourse and associated apron works, pavement works, works
for the Automated People Mover (APM) and Baggage Handling System (BHS), and
associated facilities, utilities, road, and drainage.
Diversion of the existing submarine aviation
fuel pipelines was undertaken using a HDD method
forming two rock drill holes by drilling through bedrock from/to a launching
site located at the west of the airport island to/from a daylighting point
adjacent to the offshore aviation fuel receiving platform at Sha Chau. Two new
500 mm diameter pipelines were installed through the drilled tunnels. The total
length of each pipeline is approximately 5 km.
After completion of the drilling and reaming of
the HDD holes, the permanent aviation fuel pipes were pushed from/to the HDD
launching site to/from Sha Chau. To limit the impact to
Sha Chau Island, pipe fabrication was done at the airport island side and a barge was used as a temporary
working platform between Sha Chau Island and the offshore receiving platform to
facilitate the works. The remainder of the pipe laying between the HDD
launching site on the airport island and connection point to the existing pipeline
was installed by open trench method. The HDD works was completed in the first
quarter of 2018.
Diversion of the existing power cables was
required in order to maintain continuous power supply
to the facilities at Sha Chau. Diversion of the submarine cables used a direct
bury (water jetting) method. The use of water jetting as the preferred method
avoided the need for trench excavation and associated disposal of excavated
materials. Works was conducted beneath the seabed from the edge of the airport
island to the ‘connecting location’ at least 500m outside the boundary of Sha
Chau and Lung Kwu Chau Marine Park. The length of
cable installation is approximately 6km marine, with a burial depth of 3m to 5m
below seabed level, and approximately 0.3km landside.
At the daylighting point of the submarine
cables, the cables crossed the existing seawall. A works area on the west side
of the existing airport island was required for the cable daylighting and
joining to the existing landside cables. A small section of the existing
seawall at Hong Kong International Airport (HKIA) was excavated by open cut
method and cable ducts were installed before reinstating the seawall. The
cables were then run underground, crossing the existing roadway (via cross road ducts) and along the east shoulder area of the
roadway to the designated jointing location. The Submarine Cable Division works
was completed in March 2017.
Land formation (see Attachment II Figure 1)
comprising approximately 650ha of land to be formed to the north of existing
airport island with associated seawalls. The major components of land formation
works include modification and integration of the existing seawall, ground
improvement of the underlying marine sediments, seawall construction and marine
filling. There were also minor marine structure
including the runway approach lights and the Hong Kong International Airport
Approach Area (HKIAAA) marker buoys.
The key construction activities associated with
the land formation works are described below:
a) Modification of Existing Seawall –
the existing rock armour from the seawall were retained or removed for reuse as
far as practicable.
b) Ground Improvement – the deep cement
mixing (DCM) method was adopted within the contaminated mud pit (CMP) areas,
while DCM as well as other methods (including stone column, prefabricated
vertical drain and vertical sand drains) was adopted outside the CMP areas.
Prior to the commencement of ground improvement, hard materials including rock
fill left from previous works in the project area (such as existing fuel pipes
and existing seawalls) and rubbish on the seabed that would cause obstruction
to the works need to be removed. A sand blanket was then laid on the seabed
within the CMP areas to contain and minimise the release of contaminant during
ground improvement activities. For specific obstructions that could neither be
removed nor overcome, another type of DCM known as Deep Jet Mixing, which cores
through the obstruction and is generally not used for area-wide application due
to slow speed, was used for ground improvement below the obstructions.
c) Seawall Construction – the majority of the seawalls for the airport expansion are
rock sloping seawalls, except for some localised areas (e.g. at the sea rescue
landing points and marine loading points) where blockwork vertical seawalls are
required. The seawalls were founded on grounds improved previously by DCM, in
which after DCM works the seabed heaved and undulated. The undulate surface,
comprises of sandfill and lumps of cement mixed sand, were then trimmed back
and re-levelled to facilitate seawall blocks placement (for vertical seawall)
or core rocks to armours placement (for sloping seawalls). The trimmed material
were reused as fill material. Beyond the toe of the
seawall, scour (stone) aprons were laid to protect the seawall toe against
erosion.
d) Filling Works – different fill
materials including rock fill, public fill, sand fill, rock armour and graded
filter layer were used to form the land and seawalls. Seawalls comprise of rock
fill as the seawall core, and rock armour and graded filter layer to form the
protective layers. Sand fill or a mix of sand fill and public fill were adopted
as the marine filling material, while a combination of sand fill and public
fill were adopted for land filling activities.
The land formation works was
substantially completed in mid of 2023.
The location plans for the construction works
of the project based on best available information are presented in Attachment
II. The major construction works involved are described below:
a) Airfield Facilities (see Attachment II Figure 2) – paving structures include the
third runway, taxiways, aircraft parking stands, apron roads and airside roads
located on the newly formed land, as well as modifications to the existing
north runway and midfield apron. Superstructures include the air traffic
control towers, fire stations, a fire training pit (to be relocated from the
southern part of the airport island), petrol filling station, aircraft
maintenance hangars, an aircraft engine run-up facility for performing aircraft
engine test runs for the purpose of trouble-shooting or maintenance, air cargo
staging facilities, flight catering facilities, ground service equipment
maintenance facilities and storage area, airside communications and office
buildings, cross dock facility, seawater pumping stations, meteorological
station and other airport support facilities or aviation-related developments.
b) Passenger Facilities (see Attachment II Figure 3)
– these include the Terminal 2 Concourse (T2C) (including fixed linked bridges
and passenger loading bridges), the Terminal 2 (T2) expansion, the automated
people mover (APM) and the baggage handling system (BHS), with associated
tunnelling works and ancillary buildings. The T2C will be constructed in
phases, with Phase 1 to be completed first, and the remaining T2C area to be
completed at a later stage depending on demand. The T2 building was expanded
into a full service processing terminal serving the T2C,
comprising an expanded main terminal building, new annex buildings, an
underground APM interchange station (AIS), a combined depot for the T2C line
and the T1/ SkyPier Lines, and BHS basement. Landside
supporting facilities and utilities will also be expanded and enhanced to
support T2 operation.
c) Road Network (see Attachment II Figures
4 to 6) – these include the airside road network and tunnels connecting
the new land formation facilities to the existing airport island facilities, as
well as landside road improvement works at Terminal 2, the southern cargo area
and the airside road works at the western of the Centre Runway.
d) Infrastructure and Utilities –
various infrastructure and utilities will be laid both on the newly formed land
and within the existing airport island, including the fuel hydrant system,
seawater cooling and flushing system, drainage network, potable water supply, fire fighting system, sewerage network, gas, power,
telecommunications, airport systems, and other aviation related utilities and
systems. A section of gravity sewer located outside the airport island will
also be upgraded (see Attachment
II Figure 7), subject to the future sewage capacity demand.