Enjoy Spacious Terminal Buildings at Hong Kong International Airport

The Honk Kong International Airport (HKIA) replaced China's Kai Tak terminal back in 1998, and boasts one of the most spacious passenger terminal buildings in the world (it was the largest out of all airports worldwide in 1998 when first opened).  The 2nd busiest cargo terminal in the world in 2009, and the 13th overall busiest terminal for passenger travel, HKIA houses over 90 different airlines with destinations to over 150 different cities across Earth.  With 70 different boarding gates, HKIA's Terminal 1 holds the record as the world's third largest passenger terminal spanning 570,000 m, and is only outranked by only Dubai International's Terminal 3 (1,500,000 m) and Beijing Capital International's Terminal 3 (986,000 m).

HKIA was originally built as a way to manage the flaws inherit in the previous Kai Tak Airport's design.  A very popular terminal, Kai Tak staff found themselves increasingly dealing with delayed flights, and overbooking as the annual passenger population constantly increased year upon year, until finally the small gate size and minimal real estate afforded to Kai Tak caught up with them.  There were also noise pollution complaints that grounded all night time flights from occurring, further hindering the potential profitability of Kai Tak.  By 1991, construction began on the small islands of Chek Lap Kok and Lam Chau nearby Lantau Island, for what was to eventually become HKIA.  After leveling Lam Chau and Check Lap Kok Islands to fashion an artificial land mass base for the terminal, HKIA was constructed with special design innovations like typhoon-proof breakable glass in the terminal sides (to allow wind pressure to flow through the terminal and allow the buildings to withstand the typhoon).  With all the achievements made with HKIA, it's no small wonder why it was ranked in the Guinness World Records as being the most expensive airport ever built.