Flying high over the bay

A solution to air traffic jams

Cooperation also needs to be strengthened in other cities in the region to address long-standing problems, capitalize on potential business opportunities and achieve win-win outcomes, experts said.

There have been significant overlaps in the air routes to and from airports in Hong Kong, Shenzhen and Guangzhou due to limited airspace and flight paths, over the years, which means the cooperation cannot go deeper, said Wong.

Wong estimated that about 70 percent of the air routes in the airports in the Greater Bay Area are the same - much higher than those in Greater London or the New York metropolitan area, where less than 40 percent of the airports' businesses overlap.

"The differentiation in the airports' functional orientations is particularly important," said Yuen Chi-lok, director of the Aviation Policy and Research Centre at the Chinese University of Hong Kong. Yuen added that the cooperation space of the airports will be very limited if their functional orientations overlap.

The airports within the Greater Bay Area should split up the work to prevent having too many overlapping air routes, which creates vicious competition in the industry, he said, adding that coordination should start among the region's five busiest airports in Guangzhou, Shenzhen, Zhuhai, Hong Kong and Macao.

The Guangdong Provincial Development and Reform Commission also recognized the issue, saying in June that the airport clusters in the region have "homogenization problems in product services", and calling for a stronger regional collaboration in an all-around way.

The division of airport businesses could also help solve the long-standing problem of congestion in the skies of the Greater Bay Area, which has caused delays in flights, he said. It's time to start figuring out how to deal with airspace disputes amid busy airline schedules as air travel gradually picks up as travel restrictions imposed under the pandemic are lifted.

The situation is expected to improve slightly when HKIA's third runway is completed in 2024 and speed up the efficiency of aircraft take-offs and landings in the city.

Wong has proposed the concept of a "GBA Airport" alliance that would combine the functions of the region's major airports by strengthening coordination and connectivity. It could be the world's biggest airport cluster if the three dominant airports - in Shenzhen, Guangzhou, and Hong Kong - are combined, and the total number of destinations served could be doubled, she envisioned.

According to statistics compiled by Civil Aviation Data Analysis, the total number of passengers using the five busiest airports in the Greater Bay Area - Hong Kong International Airport, Guangzhou Baiyun International Airport, Shenzhen Bao'an International Airport, Macao International Airport and Zhuhai Airport - had exceeded 200 million in 2018. Hong Kong alone handled more than 71.5 million passengers in 2019.

Citing London's Heathrow Airport as an example, she said, one can now land at Heathrow Airport and easily got to another airport in the city for a second flight.

Facing an airport cluster, passengers would have more options, allowing them to make decisions based on factors such as air fares. She believes that fares will be reduced and further benefit residents and travelers. For example, it could cost a fortune to fly directly to Hong Kong, but travelers could land in another city in the region and arrive in Hong Kong through intercity transportation and spend much less.

With its wide selection of airports and quality air services, the Greater Bay Area will not only be the top choice for transit and entry to Asian countries, but also a popular tourist and business destination in its own right. "This will enhance the competitiveness of the region on a wider scale," said Wong.