Hong Kong's SkyPier is to go into formal operation next Monday, having the capacity of offering millions of residents in the Pearl River Delta direct access to the Hong Kong International Airport (HKIA).

High-speed ferries will shuttle passengers to SkyPier where they will board bonded buses for the airport, bypassing immigration and customs formalities, cutting by up to half of the 4-hour transit time.

With SkyPier, travelers will whisk through the HKIA for direct flights to 140 destinations served by 74 airlines.

Initially, ferries will operate to four ports -- Guangdong Province's Shekou, Shenzhen, and Humen (in Dongguan) as well as Macao, extending later to Guangdong's Zhuhai, Guangzhou and Zhongshan.

Speaking at an opening ceremony Tuesday, Airport Authority Chief Executive Officer David Pang said the ShyPier airport ferry terminal is a very innovative way to extend HK's local market reach of 6.8 million residents in Hong Kong to 26 million in the Pearl River Delta region, making the HKIA a truly modal international transport hub with land and sea transport.

The general manager of Hong Kong International Airport Ferry Services Limited, operator of SkyPier, Peng Dong, said the opening cannot come at a better time. "We see a strong and continues growth in travelers, boosted by the CEPA and as more cities allow individual travel to Hong Kong." The CEPA refers to the Closer Economic Partnership Arrangement, a document to enhance economic cooperation between Hong Kong and the Chinese mainland.

(Xinhua News Agency September 24, 2003)