Asia-Pacific Region air traffic has regained momentum in the past two years after the introduction of additional security measures both on the ground and in flight.

This was the message from the Director-General of Civil Aviation Albert Lam at the Asia Pacific Economic Co-operation Transportation Working Group Symposium on the Promotion of Effective 100% Baggage Screening.

Airlines have placed high accord on safety and security, as have passengers when they choose which airline to fly with, Mr Lam said. Screening of hold baggage is one of the important security control measures in ensuring that no restricted articles are carried on board.

"Hong Kong has been applying 100% screening of baggage since our operations at the old airport at Kai Tak. This practice continued to be applied when we relocated to the new airport. The modus operandi was modified and more sophisticated equipment was deployed."

According to Mr Lam, in 2002 HK International Airport handled 16.7 million departing and transfer passengers and screened more than 19 million items of baggage, or more than 52,000 pieces a day.

"Full screening of baggage will no doubt give the travelling public additional confidence in the security and safety of travel," Mr Lam said, adding the future challenge is the growing number of travellers who bring with them increasing numbers of baggage in various sizes that have to be screened.

"These passengers also demand better facilitation, which puts pressure on the airports and airlines to process and screen their baggage faster," he said.

"The introduction of very large aircraft such as the Airbus A380 which can carry more than 550 passengers also poses further challenges as to how to complete the screening of the passengers' baggage to cope with the requirement for speedy embarkation."

Hosted by the Civil Aviation Department, the three-day symposium concluded today. More than 100 representatives from 13 member economies attended the symposium for knowledge and experience sharing.