Why did Hong Kong Airport cancel the satellite hall?

Hong Kong Airport is one of the busiest airports in the Asia-Pacific region, with a very large daily passenger flow. Many satellite halls were built in Hong Kong Airport earlier, but now they are gradually cancelled. So what is the reason?

The satellite hall of the airport refers to a small terminal building independent of the main terminal building of the airport. At the beginning of design, some airports planned satellite halls in order to make full use of land. With the development of business, some airports are forced to expand new small terminal buildings outside the main terminal building and become satellite halls. Most of the terminals called "Satellite Hall" need shuttle buses. If tunnels and overpasses are built, they should not be called "satellite halls" in principle.

Many airports in the world have satellite halls, and China's Hongkong, Pudong, Shenzhen and Chengdu also have satellite halls (or are under construction). Because there are no tunnels and overpasses, the efficiency of the satellite hall is very poor in busy airports.

The inefficiency of the satellite hall is mainly due to the need to use the car ferry. After the shuttle bus pulled a group of noisy passengers to the satellite hall, these people had to queue up to get on the bus one by one, so they had to transfer from the main terminal to the satellite hall a long time in advance. But if some passengers can't catch up, it will be time-consuming and laborious to use the dedicated Basra to go to the satellite hall. Might as well throw him away. Therefore, if you have the wrong experience, it is mostly related to this. In short, it is not as convenient as the covered bridge.

Even the "satellite hall" connected by small trains is not as efficient as the main terminal, because small trains generally cannot run 24 hours a day. It is not cost-effective to use a small train when there are too few passengers at night. Therefore, even in large hub airports such as Singapore or Hong Kong, small trains will be stopped at night and buses with long departure intervals will be used instead. If you need to transfer across the terminal at night, you have to consider this problem.

If you really want to improve efficiency, of course, you have to build a road for passengers to walk directly.

China pursues face in airport construction and likes to make the main terminal super large, so it doesn't need a satellite hall. In Chinese mainland, there are many "remote seats" at the airport. Passengers are waiting in the main terminal. As time is running out, they will be caught in a traffic jam ahead of time and dragged to a distant flight to board the plane. Don't think about shopping and eating. Because we don't pay attention to efficiency and passenger experience, few people make suggestions, and it is basically unnecessary to build satellite terminals.

However, due to the rapid growth of passenger flow in recent years, some hub airports have begun to build new terminals, which some amateur media call "satellite halls". But in fact, except that the satellite hall of Shuangliu Airport is a real satellite hall, everything else is "fake".

China's most famous airport satellite hall is in Hongkong. It was built on 20 10 to improve efficiency and experience. At that time, the Hong Kong airport flourished and wide-body aircraft grew rapidly. In order to reserve the valuable covered bridge resources of the main terminal for wide-body aircraft, Hong Kong Airport built this "satellite hall" on the north side of T 1. There are 10 parking spaces for narrow-body machines, and there are all kinds of toilets in the shopping mall, which effectively enhances the waiting experience of customers.

But when it comes to efficiency, it is very disappointing. Because Hong Kong Airport is too busy, the bus between the main terminal and the satellite hall always needs to wait for passing planes, so it is difficult to ensure that passengers can arrive at the satellite hall on time. At the same time, due to the small space in the boarding area, it is crowded when waiting; The tail gas of car ferry can't dissipate at low altitude, and it is often complained by passengers.

Therefore, the renovation of this satellite hall has long been put on the agenda.

In order to cope with the growth of passenger flow, a "passenger corridor" was built in Hong Kong Airport in 20 16, which greatly eased the pressure on the satellite hall. The passenger corridor is connected to the main terminal by an underground train, and passengers can shuttle back and forth in a few minutes, which is very convenient.

However, in order to completely solve the efficiency problem of the satellite hall, Hong Kong Airport did not give up the satellite hall after the opening of the passenger corridor.

There are not many airports in the world that dare to build such an overpass on the plane. The famous Kuala Lumpur Second Airport (KLIA2) has an "airplane bridge" connecting two long parallel corridors of KLIA2. Because KLIA2 is mainly used by AirAsia, and A320 is the most popular one of AirAsia, this overpass only needs medium-sized passenger planes such as A320, and it is not very high.

In contrast, the satellite flyover of Hong Kong Airport can be described as "tall". Hong Kong Airport is one of the most important hub airports in the world. Airbus A380 and Boeing 747 are regular customers. In order not to affect the efficiency, this overpass is too outrageous. According to the general manager of La, A380 can pass easily, and it will definitely be a scene!

Just, how much does such a big project cost?

Hong Kong Airport has done a lot of construction and planning to improve efficiency. A few years ago, the narrow-body aircraft of the three major domestic airlines mainly docked in the satellite hall. However, due to the poor punctuality rate of domestic flights, the efficiency of Hong Kong Airport has been slowed down, so now almost all of them are thrown in distant seats. Therefore, the current pattern of Hong Kong Airport is: heavy aircraft are at T 1, passenger corridors are mainly used by Hong Kong Airlines, Hong Kong Express and low-cost Southeast Asian Airlines, and narrow-body aircraft from the mainland are always late, so they are arranged in the least efficient long-range aircraft.

The satellite hall of Hong Kong Airport is now mainly used by narrow-body aircraft of Cathay Pacific Dragonair. Because it is a base company, it is easier to arrange covered bridges, which is conducive to improving efficiency. Therefore, after the "overpass" is completed, you will experience this huge "overpass" if you fly in and out of Hong Kong Airport on a narrow plane of Cathay Pacific Dragonair.

Efficiency never depends on the weather. In order to improve efficiency, AA Hong Kong is not only not worried, but also willing to spend money.