Lee said that the Transport and Logistics Bureau will “take an active part in scrutinising the reports” and determine if “any additional actions can be taken by other parties involved”, including the authorities.
He said that there is always “room for improvements” and that safety should be the number one priority when handling an emergency situation.
The city leader answered media questions on Tuesday, before his meeting with the Executive Council, the government’s most important decision-making body.
Nearly half of the 932 scheduled flights at the airport between 7am on Monday and midnight on the following day were delayed due to the incident.
The Airport Authority implemented a number of measures to alleviate the situation, including extending the opening hours of the customer service counters, and increasing the number of baggage handlers in order to deal with the increased arrivals on other runways.
The airport said that it had re-established normal operations on Tuesday, after processing 40 flights delayed since midnight.
The Post reported on Tuesday morning that all flights had been cleared and normal service restored at the airport.
Flight information boards showed that there were no delays or cancellations for flights scheduled in the morning or early afternoon. Passengers interviewed were confident that their flights will depart on time, despite what happened the day prior.
After hearing that the incident was resolved, retired Joanna Lam in her 70s said that she did not worry about her flight to Hangzhou being affected.
“I have confidence in Hong Kong Airport.” She said, “I’ve never experienced a flight delay in my previous trips.”
Lai, a 60-year old retiree, who is flying with friends to Bangkok in the afternoon was also optimistic about restored operations.
“The airport would’ve been paralysed had it taken 24 hours to repair a tyre,” said he. “I am confident in their efficiency.” “I would have been more concerned at another airport.”
Chung, a 31-year-old traveller, was also unhappy with the performance of the authority. He had returned to Hong Kong around 2.30am Tuesday morning after his flight was delayed by four hours from Tokyo.
“The Airport Authority should explain to the public, who has mandated that the passengers pay its construction fees for the third runway, why it takes so much time to handle the incident,” said he.
Since August 2016, the authority has imposed a “Airport Construction fee” ranging from HK$70 (9 US$) to HK$180 per ticket issued. This fee is used to fund the construction of a third runway. The fee will be collected until the capital raised for the project has been fully repaid.
Chung, a passenger on Cathay Pacific’s budget subsidiary HK Express said that the airline should have notified the passengers earlier. They were only informed an hour before their scheduled departure at Narita Airport, Tokyo.
He said that the airline company should have been aware of the runway accident in Hong Kong earlier and informed passengers through different systems.
All air traffic was forced to use the south runway after the emergency closure of north runway on Sunday. In 2022, a third runway was closed to undergo modification works. It will reopen in 2019.