Hong Kong authorities announced on Tuesday that operations have resumed on the runway involved in last week’s fatal plane crash, one of the deadliest incidents since the city’s airport opened in 1998.
On October 20, a Boeing cargo plane veered off the northernmost runway during landing, struck a security patrol car, and skidded into the sea, killing two airport security personnel.
The Airport Authority Hong Kong said in a statement to AFP that landings resumed on the North Runway at 4:10 a.m. (2010 GMT Monday).
Chief Executive John Lee told reporters that the salvage operation was completed on Monday night and that airport operations had fully returned to normal.
Lee said investigators are examining the crew’s qualifications, flight operations, and maintenance records as part of the ongoing probe by Hong Kong’s Air Accident Investigation Authority.
The aircraft’s black box recorders were recovered on Friday, and a preliminary report is expected within a month. The plane’s crew, from Istanbul-based ACT Airlines, remain in Hong Kong to assist investigators.
Officials confirmed that experts from the US and Turkish civil aviation authorities, as well as representatives from Boeing, are participating in the investigation.
The crash occurred on the airport’s newest runway, part of a HK$142 billion (US$18 billion) expansion project completed last year.
