HONG KONG, Feb. 9 -- A senior executive at Hong Kong's Airport Authority said on Monday that visitors to Hong Kong might have to bear the construction cost of the planned third runway at Hong Kong International Airport.

Wilson Fung, the Authority's Executive Director for Corporate Development, said charging an airport improvement fee was accepted internationally and he did not think it would affect the competitiveness of Hong Kong's airport.

As one of the busiest airports in the world, the Authority is planning for a third runway to cope with anticipated growing demand. The project will expand the airport's capacity to handle over 600,000 flights a year by 2030 and double the current amount of cargo and passenger traffic.

The construction cost of the new runway is expected to reach over 130 billion HK dollars (16.8 billion U.S. dollars).