The SARS disease will not affect air cooperation between Hong Kong and the Chinese mainland, a spokeswoman for the Airport Authority (AA) Hong Kong said on Wednesday.

AA spokeswoman Wong Sau Ying said, "The SARS disease is a heavy blow to the air transport industry of Hong Kong, but the suffering will pass and tourists will come back."

"Our focus now is to re-build confidence in air travel. The AA is preparing a set of measures to accelerate the industry when the disease is fading away," she said.

Reviewing the SARS challenge to the airline industry, Wong said that the cooperation between Hong Kong and the mainland should only be strengthened to overcome the difficulties.

"We just believe that air communication has great potential, and the only way ahead is to develop the air integration," she added.

The Hong Kong, Dubai, Singapore, and Copenhagen airports have been rated as the world's top four in terms of overall passenger satisfaction, a survey by the International Air Transport Association (IATA) showed Wednesday.

(Xinhua News Agency May 22, 2003)