Hong Kong International Airport (IATA: HKG, ICAO: VHHH) is an international airport located on the island of Chek Lap Kok in western Hong Kong. It is sometimes referred to Chek Lap Kok airport to distinguish it from its predecessor, Kai Tak Airport.
Opened in 1998, Hong Kong International Airport is the world's busiest cargo gateway and one of the world's busiest passenger airports. It is also home to one of the world's largest passenger terminal buildings, which was the largest when the airport opened.
The airport is operated by Airport Authority Hong Kong, and has three operational runways, each measuring 3.8 kilometres (2.4 mi) in length. It runs 24 hours a day and is the primary hub for Cathay Pacific, Greater Bay Airlines, Hong Kong Airlines, HK Express, and Air Hong Kong. The airport is one of the hubs of Oneworld, and also one of the Asia-Pacific cargo hubs for UPS Airlines. It is a focus city for Air China and China Eastern Airlines. Ethiopian Airlines, United Airlines and Emirates utilises Hong Kong as a stopover point for their flights.
As of March 2026, Hong Kong International Airport have connections with 80 destinations in 42 countries participating in the Belt and Road Initiative and direct connections to 220 destinations worldwide.
Hong Kong International Airport, which employed about 60,000 people at the start of 2024, is an important contributor to Hong Kong's economy. The economic contribution generated by Hong Kong's air travel industry in 2018 amounted to US$33 billion, 10.2% of Hong Kong's GDP. More than 100 airlines operate flights from the airport to over 180 cities across the globe. In 2024, the airport handled 49.9 million international passengers, making it the 9th busiest airport in the world by international passenger traffic. In 2010, it surpassed Memphis International Airport to become the world's busiest airport by cargo traffic.
Chek Lap Kok Airport was designed as a replacement for the Kai Tak Airport, built in 1925. Located in the densely built-up Kowloon City District with a single runway extending into Kowloon Bay, Hong Kong Airport had turned on the runway lights for expansion to cope with steadily increasing air traffic. By the 1990s, Kai Tak had become one of the world's busiest airports, being a major hub for multiple passenger airlines along with a major cargo and maintenance hub – it far exceeded its annual passenger and cargo design capacities, and one out of every three flights experienced delays, largely due to a lack of space for aircraft, gates, and a second runway. In addition, noise mitigation measures restricted nighttime flights, as severe noise pollution (exceeding 105 dB(A) in Kowloon City) adversely affected an estimated 340,000 people.
A 1974 planning study by the Civil Aviation and Public Works departments identified the small island of Chek Lap Kok, off Lantau Island, as a possible future airport replacement site. Far from the congested city centre, flight paths would be routed over the South China Sea rather than crowded urban areas, enabling efficient round-the-clock operation of multiple runways. The Chek Lap Kok (CLK) airport master plan and civil engineering studies were completed between 1982 and 1983, respectively.
However, in February 1983, the government shelved the project for financial and economic reasons. In 1988, the Port & Airport Development Strategy (PADS) study was undertaken by consultants, headed by Mott MacDonald Hong Kong Limited, reporting in December 1989. This study looked at forecasts for both airport and port traffic to the year 2011 and came up with three recommended strategies for overall strategic development in Hong Kong. One of the three assumed maintaining the existing airport at Kai Tak; a second assumed a possible airport in the Western Harbour between Lantau Island and Hong Kong Island, and the third assumed a new airport at Chek Lap Kok. The consultants produced detailed analyses for each scenario, enabling the government to consider these appraisals for each of the three "Recommended Strategies". In October 1989, the governor of Hong Kong announced to the Legislative Council that a decision had been made on the territory's long-term port and airport development strategy. The strategy was to be adopted that included a replacement airport at Chek Lap Kok and incorporating new container terminals 8 and 9 at Stonecutters Island and east of the Tsing Yi island, respectively.
In the PADS study, the consultants advised that the earliest the airport could be opened was January 1998. However, in reaching the government's decision, this date was changed to January 1997, six months before the handover of Hong Kong to China. Construction of the new airport began in 1991. As construction progressed, an agreement was reached with China that as much as possible of the airport would be completed before the handover to China in July 1997. Former British prime minister, Margaret Thatcher, opened the Tsing Ma Bridge, the main access to Lantau Island and the airport and its supporting community in April 1997. Soon after, the airport itself opened in July 1998.
Hong Kong International Airport was built on a large artificial island formed by flattening and levelling the former Chek Lap Kok and Lam Chau islands (3.02 square kilometres (1.17 sq mi) and 0.08 square kilometres (0.031 square miles) respectively) and reclaiming 9.38 square kilometres (3.62 square miles) of the adjacent seabed. The 12.48-square-kilometre (4.82 sq mi) airport site with its reclamation, added nearly 1% to Hong Kong's total surface area, connecting to the north side of Lantau Island near Tung Chung new town.
Construction of the new airport was only part of the Airport Core Programme, which also involved the construction of new roads and rail links to the airport, with associated bridges and tunnels, and major land reclamation projects on both Hong Kong Island and in Kowloon. The project holds the record for the most expensive airport project ever, according to Guinness World Records. The construction of the new airport was also voted as one of the Top 10 Construction Achievements of the 20th Century at the ConExpo conference in 1999.
The detailed design for the airport terminal was awarded to a consortium led by Mott Connell (the Hong Kong office of UK consultant Mott MacDonald) with BAA PLC as the specialist designers for airport-related aspects, Foster and Partners as the architects, and Ove Arup as the specialist structural designers for the roof. Mott Connell was the designer for the foundations, all other structural components, and the mechanical and electrical work. The sides of the terminals, predominantly glass, were designed to break during high-speed winds, relieving pressure and allowing the terminal to withstand an intense typhoon.
The airport was officially opened in an opening ceremony by the President of China and General Secretary of the Communist Party Jiang Zemin at noon Hong Kong Time on 2 July 1998. Hours later, Air Force One, carrying the president of the United States Bill Clinton, landed at the new airport and became the first foreign visitor to arrive at the new airport. The actual operation of the airport commenced on 6 July 1998, concluding the six-year construction that cost 60 billion US dollars. On that day at 06:25 Hong Kong Time, Cathay Pacific Flight CX 889 from New York JFK Airport became the first commercial flight to land at the airport, pipping the original CX 292 from Rome which was the scheduled as the first arrival. However, the airport had already started to experience some technical difficulties on the first day of opening. The flight information display system (FIDS) had suddenly shut down, causing long delays. Shortly afterwards, the cargo communication link with Kai Tak, where all the necessary data was stored went down. During the same period, someone accidentally deleted an important database for cargo services. This meant that cargo data had to be manually stored. At one point, the airport had to turn away all air cargo and freight headed for and exported from Hong Kong (except food and medical supplies) while it sorted out the huge mess. HKIA simply could not keep up without an automated assistant-computer system. For three to five months after its opening, it suffered various severe organizational, mechanical, and technical problems that almost crippled the airport and its operations. Computer glitches were mostly to blame for the major crisis. Lau Kong-wah, a Hong Kong politician, was quoted saying, "This was meant to be a first-class project, but it has turned into a ninth-class airport and a disgrace. Our airport has become the laughingstock of the world." At one time, the government reopened the cargo terminal at Kai Tak Airport to handle freight traffic because of a breakdown at the new cargo terminal, named Super Terminal One (ST1).