Hong Kong Kai Tak Airport

Hardly any airport has produced so many spotter photos you recognize at first glance. A jumbo banking, its wingtip seemingly between laundry lines and neon signs, with the evening rush of Kowloon City below: that is Kai Tak, Hong Kong’s airport from 1925 to 1998. A single runway jutted into Kowloon Bay like a causeway, the mountains to the north allowed no straight approach, and so crews had to fly a sharp right turn over the city just before touchdown. This profile summarizes how the airport grew, how it worked, why it had to close – and what you can still find on site today.

From a land reclamation project to an airfield

The airport’s name recalls a failed building project. In 1912 the businessmen Ho Kai and Au Tak teamed up to reclaim and develop land in Kowloon Bay. The project did not progress as planned, the government took over the site – and flying began on the flat area by the water. In 1924 Harry Abbott opened a flying school there. The Civil Aviation Department dates the first documented flight to Chinese New Year’s Day 1925 – this year is considered the birth of Kai Tak.

The first years were modest. In 1928 a slipway for seaplanes was added, in 1935 the first control tower and a hangar. On March 24, 1936, the Imperial Airways “Dorado” landed from Penang – according to the Civil Aviation Department the starting point of public air traffic in Hong Kong. In World War II Japan occupied the colony; the occupiers had the airfield extended with prisoners of war and two concrete runways laid out. Bombing raids left severe damage until the end of the war.

After 1945 things picked up quickly. On May 1, 1946, the Civil Aviation Department was founded, which ran the airport from then on, and a young airline called Cathay Pacific began flying with Douglas DC-3s. Out of this beginning grew one of Asia’s big airlines – and Kai Tak was its home airport until the last day.

A runway built into the water

The old runways were not enough for jet traffic. The solution lay in the harbor: on reclaimed land a new runway in a northwest–southeast direction was built, going into operation in 1958 at 2,529 meters long. The same year the airport received the official name Hong Kong International Airport, and in 1962 the new passenger terminal followed. In 1970, according to the Civil Aviation Department, the first Boeing 747 landed at Kai Tak, and it was quickly clear: the widebody jets needed more runway.

By 1975 the runway grew to its final length of 3,390 meters. It was only fully usable from December 31, 1975, because the airport tunnel was still being built at the northwest end. With that Kai Tak had the shape spotters picture today: a narrow strip of land reaching far into Kowloon Bay, water on both sides, terminal and apron at the root end, the city behind.

Which direction applied was decided by the wind, as everywhere. How airports determine their runway direction in use and what that means for your location is explained in the article Understanding the runway direction in use at an airport.

The checkerboard approach to runway 13

Kai Tak became famous through a turn. Northwest of the runway lay densely built-up districts and behind them mountains rising to about 600 meters. A straight approach along the runway direction was therefore out of the question. Since 1974 an Instrument Guidance System (IGS) had led aircraft to runway 13 – technically similar to an ILS, except that the beam was offset by about 47 degrees from the runway axis. It did not point at the runway but at a hill in the north of Kowloon.

This hill carried a large checkerboard pattern of red and white squares and gave the approach its name. When Checkerboard Hill appeared in front of the cockpit window, the turn was near. Usually below about 1,000 feet and roughly two nautical miles before the touchdown point, crews initiated a right turn and only lined up with the runway shortly before the threshold – by hand and by sight. Because the last stretch was not instrument-guided, landings on runway 13 were not possible in very poor visibility.

The challenge lay in the combination: little altitude, little time for corrections, gusts from the mountains and, in typhoon season, strong crosswind. Airlines prepared their crews specifically for this approach. Strict height limits applied to buildings in the approach path, which fell only after the closure. The details of the procedure, the three phases of the approach and spotters’ memories are covered in more depth in the magazine article Kai Tak: the checkerboard approach.

The opposite direction: runway 31

Less well known but just as demanding was operating in the other direction. Landings on runway 31 came in from the southeast over the harbor and were instrument-guided all the way to the runway. The approach path passed within a few hundred meters of the Heng Fa Chuen housing estate on Hong Kong Island. Anyone taking off on 31 had the mountains right in front of them and had to fly a left turn of about 65 degrees shortly after liftoff to avoid Beacon Hill, among other things.

For spotters, runway direction 31 meant different shots: approaches over the water with the Hong Kong Island skyline in the background, departing jets that banked noticeably just after takeoff. The iconic pictures over the rooftops, on the other hand, almost all came from landings on runway 13.

Who flew at Kai Tak

The home airline was Cathay Pacific, which had its hub at Kai Tak until the closure in 1998. Also based here were Dragonair (from 1985) and the cargo airline Air Hong Kong (from 1986). Both later became part of today’s Cathay Group; Dragonair last flew as Cathay Dragon and ceased operations in 2020. Add airlines from all over the world for which Hong Kong was an important destination in Asia – from Europe, North America, Australia and of course from the region, such as China Airlines from Taiwan or Singapore Airlines.

The aircraft picture was dominated by widebody jets. The Boeing 747 in several generations was omnipresent – from the 747-200 through the 747-300 with the stretched upper deck to the 747-400 of the 1990s. Add trijets such as the Lockheed TriStar and, toward the end, the first big long-haul twinjets. How to tell the jumbo generations apart in old photos is explained in the article Identifying the Boeing 747-100 to 747-8.

Accidents and incidents

As well-rehearsed as operations became over the decades, the location forgave little. According to common compilations, around 131 people died in accidents at the airport between 1947 and 1994. The worst occurred on August 24, 1965, in the crash of a US Marine Corps KC-130F transport aircraft; 59 of the 71 occupants died.

The best-known incident of the jumbo era ended mildly. On November 4, 1993, China Airlines Flight 605, a Boeing 747-409 only a few months old with the registration B-165, landed on runway 13 during Typhoon Ira. Gusts and wind shear made the speed fluctuate wildly, and the aircraft touched down too late and too fast and overran the end of the runway into the shallow harbor basin. All 296 people on board survived, 23 were injured. The investigation saw the main cause in the captain not going around despite warnings. The vertical stabilizer sticking out of the water interfered with the ILS signals for runway 31 and was therefore blown up shortly after the accident.

At the limit: why a new airport was needed

From the 1980s Kai Tak ran behind traffic. Terminal extensions in 1981 and between 1984 and 1988 raised capacity to 18 million passengers a year, further work on cargo and aprons up to 1994 to 24 million. It never sufficed for long. In 1996, according to the Civil Aviation Department, the airport handled about 29.5 million international passengers and 1.56 million tonnes of international freight – third in the world for international passengers and first for international freight.

The limits were physical. There was only one runway, and a second did not fit into the bay. At night a curfew applied from 11:30 p.m. to 6:30 a.m. to protect residents. And the mountains that made the approach so spectacular also prevented any increase in movements. The answer was a complete new build: as part of a major infrastructure program, a new airport with room for two runways and no residential development in the approach paths was built on Chek Lap Kok island off Lantau, on largely reclaimed land. The Airport Authority Hong Kong took over operations, while the Civil Aviation Department remained responsible for air traffic control and oversight.

The last night in July 1998

The move happened in one step. On the evening of July 5, 1998, at 11:38 p.m., Dragonair flight KA841 from Chongqing touched down on runway 13 as the last arrival. Shortly after midnight Cathay Pacific CX251 to London Heathrow lifted off as the last scheduled departure, and at about 1 a.m. a Cathay ferry flight followed over to Chek Lap Kok. The then director of the Civil Aviation Department bade the old airport farewell with a simple thank-you. That same night vehicles and equipment rolled to the new site in a large convoy, and at 6 a.m. Chek Lap Kok began operations.

For spotters it was a break of a kind that rarely happens. At a stroke an approach procedure and a whole category of photo subjects disappeared that cannot be recreated anywhere. You know similar farewells from Europe – for example from Berlin Tempelhof Airport in 2008 or from Berlin Tegel Airport in 2020. How the hobby has developed around such cult places is examined in the article on the history of plane spotting.

What remains of the old airport today

Anyone going to Kai Tak today finds a huge urban development area. The building height restrictions in Kowloon have fallen, and the skyline has changed. At the tip of the former runway, the Kai Tak Cruise Terminal has stood since June 2013. On parts of the runway and apron, the Kai Tak Sky Garden, a public green space, has been there since May 2021. In March 2025 the Kai Tak Sports Park opened with a main stadium for about 50,000 spectators, and since 2020 the MTR has stopped at its own Kai Tak station.

The strongest memento is not at the water at all, though. Checkerboard Hill in Kowloon Tsai, about 98 meters high, wears its checkerboard again: in 2020 and 2021 the west and south sides were repainted in the original colors after the pattern had faded and become overgrown for years. The nearest MTR station is Lok Fu. Standing there, you look roughly from the direction from which the jets once went into the turn – with an old map of the runway layout in your head, the approach is easy to follow.

Spotting in Hong Kong today

Since 1998 air traffic has been at Hong Kong Chek Lap Kok Airport. There Cathay Pacific still shapes the picture, complemented by HK Express, Hong Kong Airlines, many international carriers and heavy freight traffic. Which viewpoints around Lantau work and how to get there is in the guide Plane spotting in Hong Kong. A detailed chronicle with a look at the terminal and everyday life is also provided by the magazine article Kai Tak in Hong Kong.

There is no replacement for the checkerboard approach. If you are looking for spectacular low passes, you find them today in other places, such as Maho Beach on Sint Maarten or the runway end at Skiathos. An overview is offered by the article on the world’s most spectacular airports. Under approach paths the rule is always: keep your distance and respect barriers – more in the article Spotting under the approach path.

Conclusion

Kai Tak combined one of the most difficult locations a major airport can have with one of the highest traffic volumes in the world. A runway in the harbor basin, mountains at its back and a city of millions in the approach path – out of that came a procedure that challenged pilots and gave spotters pictures that will never exist again. Since the night of July 6, 1998, that is history.

What remains is the shape of the former runway peninsula, a cruise terminal at its tip and a freshly painted checkerboard on the hillside. If you travel to Hong Kong, you can experience both in one day: tracing the past in Kowloon in the morning, today’s jets at Chek Lap Kok in the afternoon.