The Airport Authority board said on Friday the first batch of airlines to operate from the expanded Terminal 2 would include budget carriers such as HK Express and Hong Kong Airlines and those operating short-haul routes.

The terminal will officially open on May 27.

Board member and legislator Rock Chen told RTHK that the new T2 building would mainly serve young travellers able to check in on their own as it would have fewer traditional counters than T1.

"T1 and T2 are positioned differently. The 15 airlines in T2 will probably be operating mainly short-haul routes and be relatively new carriers, including budget ones," he said.

"Based on the information I have for now, HK Express, Hong Kong Airlines and carriers operating short-haul flights to Southeast Asia will be among the 15 moving into T2 first."

Noting that 61 million passenger trips were made last year at the airport, Chen said expectations were for T2 to chalk up 15 million passengers in throughput by the end of the year.

The figure can grow to almost 30 million later once operations smooth out, he added.

Chen also assured people that the authority had sufficient manpower for the opening of the new facility.



Edited by Aaron Tam