Airport Restricted Area

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Airport Restricted Area (機場禁區, abbr. ARA) is a restricted area established by the Airport Authority in part of the Hong Kong International Airport (HKIA) for the purpose of safeguarding airport and aviation security by only allowing the entry and exit of airport staff, bona fide passengers and aircrew as well as other authorised personnel, and the security of the area is more stringent than that of the non-restricted areas.

As the Hong Kong International Airport and the former Kai Tak Airport only have flights to and from places outside Hong Kong, the restricted areas of the airports are often regarded as transit restricted areas (similar to the Frontier Closed Area).

Policy

The designation of airport restricted areas to control persons and objects who may enter or leave and to control activities inside is a common practice at airports around the world and an international convention, which is closely related to airport security and aviation security.

Under the Aviation Security Ordinance (Cap. 494) of the Laws of Hong Kong, the Aviation Security Authority appointed by the Chief Executive under section 22(1) may, by notice in the Gazette, designate the whole of the area of any aerodrome, or any part thereof, or any part of the sea area immediately adjacent to any aerodrome, as a closed area for the purpose of protecting the aerodrome, and the persons and property situated therein, from acts of violence. The Authority must consult the manager of the airport and the responsible authority for air navigation installations before designating a prohibited area.

The Gazette will set out the exact location of each section of the airport restricted area, the commencement date, the effective time, and the types of persons, aircraft, vessels and vehicles prohibited from entering. The notice will be accompanied by a sketch map with the prohibited areas shaded on the map. In addition to gazettal, notices will be erected at the actual commencement points, entrances, fences outside the airport, etc., to alert the public and to prevent inadvertent intrusion into the airport restricted area. Officers or vehicles of the fire and ambulance services, the police or the Customs and Excise Department on duty are exempted by law from any restriction on the restricted area. Prior to the implementation of the airport restricted area, sweeping inspections must be conducted by airport security guards in order to detect potential aviation security risks and ensure the absolute safety of the area concerned after the implementation of the restricted area.

Any extension, reduction or cancellation of the Airport Restricted Area should be effected only by notice published in the Gazette. However, under the Airport Authority Bylaw, the Airport Authority may at any time restrict access to or close any part or parts of the area to which the Bylaw applies, or restrict access to or from any part of the airport by an injunction granted by the Court, if such restriction is necessary for the maintenance of the operation of the airport in the interests of safety (e.g. engineering, other security considerations, etc.) Such areas are not part of the Airport Restricted Area.

The Airport Restricted Area generally includes the following sections:

• Waiting area after aviation security screening in the Passenger Terminal Building, and the arrival area before the Customs Clearance Area (including the transfer area and aircraft parked at the airport);
• Baggage handling area;
• Aprons;
• Runways;
• Taxiways;
• Maintenance aprons;
• Air Navigation Devices.

No person, vessel or vehicle shall enter or remain in any part of the Restricted Area of the Airport unless he is in possession of a valid Airport Restricted Area Permit or is accompanied by an officer authorised by the AA; and passengers of flights must hold a valid ticket within 24 hours before entering the Restricted Area of the Passenger Terminal Building. Under the laws of Hong Kong, it is an offence to unlawfully enter or leave the airport restricted area or to remain in the airport restricted area without reasonable excuse:

Aviation Security Ordinance (Cap. 494) of the Laws of Hong Kong 17. (1) A person shall not — (a) get onto an aircraft in an aerodrome except with the permission of the operator of the aircraft or a person acting on his behalf; or (b) remain on such an aircraft after being requested to leave by the operator of the aircraft or a person acting on his behalf. (2)A person who contravenes subsection (1) without reasonable excuse commits an offence and is liable on conviction to a fine at level 3. 36. (7) Any person who, without reasonable excuse, enters or remains in the restricted area or any land or sea adjacent thereto in contravention of an order made under subsection (1) commits an offence and is liable to a fine at level 5 and to imprisonment for 1 year. Aviation Security Regulations (Cap. 494A) of the Laws of Hong Kong 23. (1) A person who without reasonable excuse contravenes section 4 or 13 commits an offence and is liable on conviction to a fine at level 5 and to imprisonment for 2 years. 23. (8) A person who — (a) enters or attempts to enter or leaves or attempts to leave a restricted area by any means other than through a gate or opening designed for that purpose; (b) climbs or attempts to climb a wall, fence or any other thing that forms part of a barrier along the perimeter of a restricted area; (c) removes, displaces or alters or attempts to remove, displace or alter a wall, fence or any other thing that forms part of a barrier along the perimeter of a restricted area; (d) interferes with a security device on the perimeter of or within a restricted area placed there to detect anyone attempting to gain unauthorized access to such area, commits an offence and is liable on conviction to a fine at level 5 and to imprisonment for 2 years.

Restricted area at Kai Tak Airport

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The Restricted Area at Kai Tak Airport covers areas other than the arrivals hall and check-in counter areas of the terminal building, the cargo area, the apron and runway, as well as the surrounding waters of the Victoria Harbour.

History of changes to the restricted area at the Kai Tak Airport

With the expansion of the airport, the Restricted Area at Kai Tak Airport has been enlarged to cover most of its area during its operation.

With the closure of Kai Tak Airport on 6 July 1998, the Kai Tak Airport Restricted Area existed in name only, but the Hong Kong Airport (Restricted Area) Regulations and the Hong Kong Airport (Restricted Area and Tenants Restricted Area) Order relating to the Restricted Area had to be formally repealed upon the enactment of the Statute Law (Miscellaneous Provisions) Ordinance 2002 on 19 July 2002, together with the other laws relating to the Kai Tak Airport.

Restricted area at HKIA

The restricted area at the HKIA is divided into 7 parts:

• Passenger Terminal Buildings (including SkyPier Terminal and its Bonded Vehicular Bridge as well as the HZMB Hong Kong Port Staging Area, Hong Kong International Airport Control Point, Automated People Mover (APM))
• Aprons (Baggage handling area, air bridges, airport shuttles, passenger apron, cargo apron and long-term apron)
• Maintenance Base
• Taxiways
• Runways

The ARA does not include the Logistics Area, Cargo Area, Aviation Catering Area, the South Perimeter Road near to the Maintenance Base and next to the South Runway, as well as the Airport Fire Contingent West Sea Rescue Berth and its surrounding areas.

There is a separate classification of Ordinary Security Restricted Area and Enhanced Security Restricted Area within the Airport Restricted Area (AR) - the Ordinary Security Restricted Area covers the passenger area and the apron, except for flight passengers who stay in the passenger area, any person entering the area are required to hold a valid Airport Restricted Area Permit, or a Visitor Pass (including a Special Visitor Pass) or a Controller Permit before entering the area in the case of visitors; whereas the Enhanced Security Restricted Area covers areas for passenger boarding and disembarkation, aircraft operations and airport control (including the Airport Centre and the Airport Control Tower), where all staff and visitors and their belongings have to go through another level of security again; and in case of any suspicion, the Airport Security Company will carry out even more stringent checks. In the event of suspicious circumstances, even more stringent checks will be conducted by the Airport Security Company, and the lifts and all entrances and exits within the area are to be operated only by holders of Airport Restricted Area Permits who are authorised to enter the area and have tapped their IDs on the readers.

History of changes to the restricted area at the HKIA

With the growth and expansion of the Hong Kong International Airport (HKIA), the restricted area of the airport has been modified several times to meet actual operational and safety needs. When some facilities needed to be designated as improvement works sites (particularly the third runway project), the restricted area of the airport had to be temporarily adjusted, reduced or removed accordingly to facilitate the lawful entry and stay of site workers.

On 20 February 1998, with the completion of the new airport, the Airport Authority (AA) first established the Airport Authority Ordinance (Map of Restricted Area) Order to delineate the Restricted Area, which included the area of land at and in the vicinity of Chek Lap Kok, as well as specific parts of the Passenger Terminal Building including the passenger security screening area, the control point, the terminal area, the transit area, and the baggage claim area, and so on, in the Restricted Area. The legislation was amended on 24 September 1999 and again on 7 April 2000。

In 2002, in order to cater for the expansion of the food premises on Level 7 of the Terminal Building and the conversion of the Chek Lap Kok Ferry Pier into a cross-boundary ferry terminal, the Government again introduced legislative amendments to amend the boundaries of the Airport Restricted Area (ARA) by excluding part of Level 7 of the Terminal Building and the coach waiting area on Level 3 of the Terminal Building from the ARA, and by including the Cross-boundary Ferry Terminal and the newly built closed connecting road (later named Cheong Wing Road) in the ARA. The amendments were gazetted on 7 December 2003 and came into operation on 15 February 2003.

In 2006, to cater for the imminent commissioning of Passenger Terminal 2, AA again amended the legislation to designate the Terminal 2 departure area as the Airport Restricted Area (ARA).

There was no change to the ARA for the next 10 years, until 2019 when AA removed Terminal 2 from the Airport Restricted Area with effect from 17 January 2020 in connection with the Passenger Terminal 2 expansion project.

In 2021, to tie in with the completion of the New North Runway of the Third Runway Project, the government proposed legislative amendments to extend the Airport Area boundary and Restricted Area boundary to cover the New North Runway and the taxiway connecting to it, which was signed by the Director-General of Civil Aviation, Mr. Liu Chi-yung, on 20 July of the same year, and came into effect on 30 April 2022. In the same year, in order to facilitate the reconfiguration of the Middle Runway, AA temporarily excluded the Middle Runway from the Airport Restricted Area so as to provide direct site access to the reconfiguration works site.

In December 2023, to tie in with the imminent completion of the third runway project, the Government again proposed legislative amendments to extend the ARA, which included re-designating the middle runway as part of the ARA, designating the new taxiway as part of the ARA, and removing the Western Maritime Rescue Station and its adjoining areas from the ARA to allow the extension of the South Perimeter Road. The changes were gazetted on 3 May 2024, tabled in the Legislative Council on 8 May and came into effect on 31 July.

Related incidents

Trespassing incidents

• 15 July 2000, The Police and the Immigration Department received a report in the evening that a Korean man holding a US passport had entered the Departure Hall of the Immigration Department by presenting an invalid boarding pass to the security staff at the airport, and had managed to avoid immigration clearance and enter the Departure Hall in the restricted area of the airport, and immediately took action to search for the man; and at 10:00 pm, the Police received another report from an airline staff that Another report was received at 10pm from airline staff that a man who could not produce a valid boarding pass had forced his way through the boarding gate and into the cabin of the aircraft. The police then took immediate action to arrest the man inside the aircraft and charged him two days later for unauthorised entry into the restricted area of the HKIA. A government spokesman said on 17 July that the incident did not involve any weapons or other dangerous objects being brought into the restricted area of the airport, nor did it pose any threat to airport security.
• 17 September 2022: A 24-year-old Hong Kong woman entered the restricted area of the Hong Kong International Airport as a departing passenger with a boarding pass for Bangkok, Thailand, and claimed to Immigration Department staff that she had missed her flight and needed to cancel her departure several hours after the flight had departed from Hong Kong. The Immigration Department staff were doubtful about her explanation, and so they carried out an in-depth investigation into the claim. Subsequently, she admitted under caution that on the day of the incident on entering the restricted area of the airport as a departing passenger and stayed there to escort her friend, and that she had never intended to leave Hong Kong to Thailand. She was eventually sentenced at the Sha Tin Magistrates Courts to four weeks' imprisonment with a suspension for 24 months and a fine of HK$3,000.

Passenger incidents

• September 2018: Two Saudi Arabian women intending to seek asylum from the Australian government arrived at Hong Kong International Airport on a SriLankan Airlines flight from Colombo, and while waiting in the restricted area of the airport to connect to a Melbourne-bound Cathay Pacific flight, two officers from the Saudi Arabian Consulate in Hong Kong attempted to deceive them into boarding the Dubai-bound flight, and both SriLankan and Cathay Pacific staff eventually cancelled their seats on the Melbourne-bound flight. The two women were later allowed to enter Hong Kong and were stranded in Hong Kong for five months until March 2019 when they were taken in by a third country. The then Secretary for Security, John Lee Ka-chiu, said that any person, including consular staff, who needed to enter the restricted area of the airport from time to time to carry out their duties due to their own business, could apply for a laissez-passer from AA under the sponsorship of the relevant sponsoring organisations, and AA would strictly enforce the control of access to and from the restricted area of the airport and the holders of the laissez-passer were required to comply with the relevant laws and regulations (including the conditions of issue of the laissez-passer) in the use of the it, and any case of committing an offence in the ARA will be referred to the Police for follow-up action.

Leung Chun Ying's daughter luggage scandal

• 28 March 2016: Then Chief Executive Leung Chun-ying's youngest daughter, Leung Chung-yan, was scheduled to take Cathay Pacific flight CX872 to San Francisco in the early hours of the morning, but while waiting in the airport waiting room, she found that her hand baggage had been left outside the restricted area of the airport. Leung Tong Ching-yee was accused of asking airline staff to take her luggage to the restricted area, while Chief Executive Leung Chun-ying was accused of ordering Airport Authority staff to take her luggage into the restricted area for her, which was questioned as a "special favour", and led to a series of controversies and a furore for a while.

Related articles

EBTHK Article:

Closed road

• Airport Restricted Area Permit
• Tenant Restricted Area

External links

• Cap. 494 Aviation Security Ordinance, Laws of Hong Kong
• Cap. 494A Aviation Security Regulations, Laws of Hong Kong

To facilitate quoting and enquiries, the following redirect page(s) will direct to this page:

Restricted Area, Closed Area, Ordinary Security Restricted Area and Enhanced Security Restricted Area