Airport Type & Size
With only a single runway and merely eight jetbridges, Kai Tak managed to handle 30 million passengers and 1.5 million tonnes of freight per year.
Why should this airport be added to World of Airports?
Kai Tak Airport in Hong Kong was legendary for its thrilling and dangerous “Kai Tak Heart Attack” landing. Pilots had to navigate low over Kowloon City, making a sharp turn at low altitude using the Checkerboard Hill as a visual guide to line up with the single runway jutting into Victoria Harbour. Surrounded by water on three sides and encroached upon by the dense urban environment and nearby mountains, its location made for a unique and challenging operation. Despite its single runway, it was incredibly busy and became an iconic, albeit noisy, part of Hong Kong’s history until its closure in 1998.
Unique Features or Challenges
Sharp turn on approaches, low flying above high-rise buildings, retro aircraft, and the correct British colonial flag will get your game banned in a country
I propose that fleet aircraft operated before 1998 get a fuel discount flying out of this airport. This will make a lot of less fuel-efficient old aircraft a lot more playable.
Sidenote, having grown up in British Hong Kong, I was lucky enough to have flown a few times from Kai Tak as a kid. On the plane, the sharp turn always tilts the plane to the right, giving a bird’s-eye view crazy close to the city, where I could see people and cars moving.
On the ground, right outside the airport, is the Thai district of Kowloon City. I remember enjoying the best Thai food while watching the plane carrying my uncle fly low above my head.
This is a lot of work. I hope to see World of Airports 4.0 revive my home city’s aviation legend, when Hong Kong was at its best.
I don’t think this is a good idea. Adding Kai Tak to WoA automatically pushes the airport and whole new retro mechanics to the current playerbase. If it is a separate game, honestly ask yourself whether you will actively play it and, more importantly, pay for it? It is a sure no for me.
The timeline discrepancy can easily be solved by lowering the fuel cost of retro planes flying out of Kai Tak. Either by adjusting it to 1998 oil price according to inflation, or just a bit of discount that aligns with the net profit of 1500-6000 wollar range the game currently gives.
Having a backdated Airport would make a nice change from airports as they currently are with mostly modern liveries. Some of the current event liveries would fit in perfectly for Kai Tak, and it would be a shame for them to not be used as regular contracts somewhere.
I agree, I thought there would be a significant issue when interacting with the existing HKG.
Best to make it a standalone game or a minigame/archive section/switch with existing HKG in WoA with contracts only available at that time (such as CX L1011)
Can you point out exactly what issue Kai Tak has when interacting with the existing HKG?
TriStar is planned to be added to WoA anyway.
The game also has several past/fictional airlines and liveries, like Concord and Aviation Daily A388, Czech Airlines.
I think it’s maybe just speculation on my part that it will be added to the game, however, it could perhaps be an airport to buy with real coins just like the Boeing and Airbus packs that Now we have what I imagine, perhaps the contracts within the airport would be with legendary planes like the current ones although it would be good if they were also some modern designs.aircraft that we have today, it would be strange to see an A359 land on it, but it would be novel at the same time, in my opinion. But the developers will see what they will do with it in the end.
The point is, Kai Tak used the IATA code of HKG before its closure, the exact same of current HKG. It is different from the story when an airport went abandoned but still kept its code then the new airport has a new one.
Then we have 2 HKGs in the game if Kai Tak is implemented. There could be a lot of confusion for people when the game and seeing another HKG on the map lying there.
Players can also send planes to/buy contracts from both playable airports and available destinations. Thinking I am playing another airport right now, and there are two HKGs on the map, contract cards, and plane cards - using the same code for different airports… I consider such scenarios very weird for me.
I don’t think we are going to see two playable airports that close anytime soon. And if we do, we can work it out like other games by changing Kai Tak to ICAO: VHHX / IATA: HKX.
I grew up in Hong Kong surely want to see both Kai Tak and Chek Lap Kok in-game. However, if I have to choose one, Kai Tak is way more distinctive. Chek Lap Kok, being part of the Rose Garden project, is still one of the greatest British urban planning successes. I witnessed the whole project being built from reclaimed land on a remote island, with an infrastructure overhaul so successful that Singapore and the British came to learn from us. I was invited to one of the opening speeches as a school kid, silly asking the last governor Christ Patten stupid questions freely sitting on the ground 2 meters in front of him. Chek Lap Kok has a special place in my heart. However, Chek Lap Kok Airport, being a top-notch airport, has nothing wrong, but also nothing really special compared with Changi and Incheon.
Let’s say we will have 5 new airports this year, I would not be too greedy wanting 2 airports from my hometown. ICN / SIN / TPE / PVG deserve the priority much more than Chek Lap Kok I think. And for the far future, Yellowknife and Kai Tak are undoubtedly the two perfect airports to match with Kubasan’s dream of adding retro aircraft to the game.
Yall are complaining, I think it’d be fun to have modern planes at Kai tak and retro planes everywhere else, it’d be fun to see what a modern Kai tak would look like if it never shut down
As for the HKG thing, the code could be changed to like KTK or even put the airports VHHX code instead
Airport Name and ICAO/IATA Code
Location (City, Country)
Airport Type & Size
Why should this airport be added to World of Airports?
Major Airlines & Routes
Unique Features or Challenges
Optional: Links, images, maps, or videos
