Hong Kong airport to revise late-night use of south runway over noise complaints

Hong Kong airport will revise late-night use of its south runway following noise complaints from Tuen Mun residents struggling to sleep when cargo aircraft pass overhead.

The Airport Authority confirmed the measure late on Thursday, hours after a lawmaker revealed its plan to address the complaints that a flight path over Tuen Mun’s Siu Lam and So Kwun Wat neighbourhoods had caused significant noise pollution.

The authority, the airport’s operator, said that starting on August 7, the south runway, where cargo operations were usually busy late at night, would stop operating at 2am.

“After 2am, the south runway will be put on standby, while the north or centre runway will be in operation until 7am,” an authority spokesman said.

Without mentioning the complaints, the authority said the airport had been implementing noise mitigation measures.

This included prohibiting aircraft that failed to meet relevant noise standards from landing or taking off and routing arriving flights between 11pm and 7am to approach from the southwest over water, he said.