THE Asian Aerospace Congress, opening yesterday in Hong Kong, has brought together industry leaders to focus on the critical issues facing the region's fast-moving aviation market.

The key themes of the four-day event are air transport strategy, air transport operations and aerospace technology.

More than 400 delegates attended the opening executive sessions, which featured speakers at the ministerial and director-general level.

Eva Cheng, transport and housing secretary of the Hong Kong Special Administrative Region, underlined her government's commitment to maintaining the region's position as an international and regional aviation center by through expanding the air services network, further developing Hong Kong International Airport and promoting safety and efficiency in air transport.

Wang Changshun, vice director of the General Administration of Civil Aviation of China, discussed the country's air transport outlook. He said that new airports are needed in China, as traffic growth rates have been phenomenal. Domestic air traffic has doubled roughly every five years, Wang said.

In recent years, China's total air traffic turnover has been more than double the world average, he added.

The Chinese central government's latest five-year plan for economic development, which runs until 2010, aims to invest around US$18.5 billion in airport development. More than 40 airports are scheduled to be built during the period. The country now has about 140 airports.

Also yesterday, an Airbus A380 cruised past Hong Kong's famed skyline twice in a bid to drum up sales in Asia for the world's largest passenger jet.

The giant aircraft arrived in the city late Sunday.

Carrying a small crew, the jet flew over Hong Kong's Tsing Ma bridge before crossing Victoria Harbor, where it passed the 420-meter-high Two International Financial Center, Hong Kong's tallest building.

The wide-body, 555-seat plane is visiting Hong Kong to coincide with an air show associated with the aerospace congress.

In Bangkok on Saturday, the plane scraped its left wing tip on a hangar at Suvarnabhumi Airport while taxiing in preparation for a demonstration flight. Officials said the hangar's door had not been designed for the plane's unusually long wingspan.

The A380 had already visited more than 45 airports worldwide by late-August, and more than 70 airports will be ready for the plane by 2011, Airbus said earlier.

Hong Kong's airport spent HK$100 million (US$13 million) on modifications, including widening taxiways and upgrading parking stands, to accommodate the A380.

(Xinhua/Shanghai Daily)