do people find themselves using remote gates more often at HKIA now with CX/KA ? (i.e. the plane parks not at a normal gate but requires you to take the "bus" to get to the terminal)

I have done 3 roundtrips HKG-PVG-HKG on KA the past month or so, and for ALL the 3 PVG-HKG flights, we parked at remote gates and then need to take the bus. for the past 2 times I thought it's because it's an A320 and so there's not too many pax, but today even with an A330 it's the same.

is it cheaper for KA to do this than using a normal gate ? i.e. HKIA charges more for the use of a normal gate (so as to balance demand) ? or is it just that all the gates are being used ? although I'm not too convinced about the latter because this didn't happen that often before when economy was good / flight frequency was high...now so many airlines have cut frequencies and CX/KA themselves cutting many flights every day too, the airport shouldn't be that busy now?

Yes! And to my great annoyance. I hate those airport buses and having to lug my fully loaded 22" up to the plane.

Having said that, on the two occasions that happened to me both flights were operated by an A32X.

It is cheaper at the remote gate. In fact, I understand gate 69/70 are cheaper than gate 36 and that is cheaper than 1/2/3/4/15/16/17/18.

The only time I had to take a bus to the terminal, when arriving in HKIA was during a KA flight from Kaohsiung in late 2007. Yes, it was on a A320.

Last time I have to do remote gate is SYX --> HKG on A320 / HKG --> PVG on A321, I think for KA A32x at peak hour (Morning Outbound, Evening Inbound) has a higher chance of remote gate as most bridges are being occupied by wide bodies and the A32x will be / had been parked overnight

A330 from PEK as well. Waited for the bus, then waited for the bus to leave the parking bay, then waited for the bus to open its door... In all, 30 mins waited before we made it back to the airport building and immigration (which was overflowing). My first time using a remote bay but despite leaving PEK about 25 mins early, all was lost on arrival.

Yea I was surprised getting it on an A330 from Beijing. I didn't really think about the cost thing, but that must be it...there are currently lots of unused gates at HKIA, regardless of the time of day.

It doesn't really make sense for HKIA to give airlines the option to use the remote gates when there are empty normal gates available. As they need to operate the buses etc.

I wonder if the airlines actually get the option, or whether HKIA allocates the gates, and if you get a remote gate then you pay less?

I agree it seems strange, I just don't understand why HKIA would allocate a remote gate when there are plenty of regular gates available. Maybe it's a fluke, for instance maybe the aircraft were going to be taken out of service or they were going to do a deep cleaning. It costs $$ to get a tug to take the aircraft back off the regular gate, but maybe they can do a cleaning or some maintenance stuff at a remote gate without going back to the HAECO hangar (and without incurring fees for docking at regular gates, which I think they pay by the hour?). Sometimes when I land in the evenings I notice KA or CX aircraft docked at what I think are remote gates, with cleaning staff or people inside the aircraft.

Either way I'm just speculating here, I really have no idea. I agree with you that it seems odd for HKIA to give airlines the choice between a remote gate and a regular one.

what happened to Gates 5-14 at HKIA?
has anyone ever used Gates 501-510 North Satellite Concourse,
main building gates 511-513, 521-524 ?
what happened to Gates 514-520 ?
I asked a CX pilot friend and he had no idea about them

5-8 became 511-513, 11-14 became 521-524.

HKG started to use the new gate numbers (5xx) several months. I got a KA BP with Gate 5xx on it (I believe last November) that I did not notice until I was in the lounge. I ended up asking the lounge attendant. I pass by HKG all the time but did not notice when they changed the numbers.

Why can't HKG use alpha characters in their gate numbering and split up into "zones" like some other airports?

Example: Gate A1 in zone A, B12 in zone B etc.?

It's usually KA/mainland-bound aircraft using those gates, but I once noticed on the FIDS that a Tokyo-bound CX flight was using one of the 50X gates. (lack of "main" gates I guess?)

I don't think the departure area of the NSC is very big.

This is just me, but I love remote gates because I can have a close proximity with the plane. However, I only experienced 1 remote gate in HKIA Chep Lap Kok and my flight was to YYZ.
I still remember during the Kai Tak days, I will always beg and hope for a normal gate and not a remote gate. Now it's the opposite.

http://www.hongkongairport.com/eng/m...es/pr_983.html

Few chances now..