The Hong Kong International Airport colloquially known as Chek Lap Kok Airport to distinguish it from its predecessor, the closed Kai Tak Airport, is the main airport in Hong Kong. The airport has a total of 90 boarding gates, with 78 jet bridge gates and 12 virtual gates which are used as assembly points for passengers, who are then ferried to the aircraft by apron buses. Of the 66 jet bridges, five are capable of handling the Airbus A380.

The 140 acre Terminal 1 of the Airport, is the third largest airport passenger terminal building in the world, after Dubai International Airport Terminal 3 and Beijing Capital International Airport Terminal 3.

Terminal 2, together with the SkyPlaza, measuring 34 acres opened on 28 Feb 2007 along with the opening of the Airport Station's Platform 3. It is only used for checkig-in and processing facility for departing passengers with no gates or arrival facilities. So far most low-cost carriers and some full-service carriers have relocated their check-in operations to T2.

The airport was built on a large artificial island on land reclaimed from the island of Chek Lap Kok Lam Chau. The land on which the airport sits measures 3,080-acre (12.48 km2 ) thus nearly adding 1% to Hong Kong's total surface area, connecting to the north side of Lantau Island near Tung Chung new town.

Construction of the new airport began in 1991 although the airport master plan and civil engineering studies had been completed towards the end of 1982 and 1983 respectively. The construction of the airport was to be completed before the transfer of sovereignty over Hong Kong to People's Republic of China in July 1997. Hong Kong was previously being run by the British colonial government.

Various objections on the various aspects of the project were raised by the Chinese government in Beijing thus prompting financial institutions to delay extending project finance. An agreement was finally reached and the project proceeded albeit behind schedule,

Construction of the new airport also involved the construction of new roads and rail roads to the airport, with bridges and undersea tunnels, and major land reclamation projects on both Hong Kong Island and in Kowloon. According to Guinness World Records, the project is the most expensive airport project ever undertaken and was was voted as one of the Top 10 Construction Achievements of the 20th Century at the ConExpo conference in 1999.

In May 1997, prior to the transfer of sovereignty to China, the British Prime Minister John Major opened the Tsing Ma Bridge, the main access to Lantau Island and the airport and its supporting community.

The General Secretary of the Communist Party of China (paramount leader) Jiang Zemin officiated the opening ceremony at 12 p.m. Hong Kong Time on. Operations at the airport officially began on 6 July 1998, after a six-year construction costing US$20 billion.

Cathay Pacific flight 889 became the first commercial flight to land at the airport on 2 July 1998 at 06:25 Hong Kong Time. On the first day of opening however, the airport started to experience some technical difficulties but things returned to normalcy 6 months later.
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