Kai Tak Was Named After Two Businessmen

In the twentieth century, Kai Tak became synonymous with Hong Kong International Airport, renowned worldwide for its peculiar landing path that grazing only feet above a mountain range and for its location in a densely populated area.

However, the story of Kai Tak began 13 years before the first grass strip runway was built on what would become the world's busiest cargo hub in the 1990s.

In 1912, two billionaire businessmen, Ho Kai and Au Tak, founded the Kai Tak Investment Company. Their goal was to reclaim land in the Bay of Kowloon for development. Unfortunately, the plan failed. The Hong Kong government subsequently acquired that piece of land for use as an airfield.

Since the land was reclaimed from the sea, it initially had no name. The government decided to name it after the two men who had launched the reclamation project: Ho Kai and Au Tak, thus calling it Kai Tak. On January 25, 1925, Kai Tak Airport opened.

Paradoxically, twenty-five years after Kai Tak Airport closed, the land originally reclaimed by Ho Kai and Au Tak for development was eventually converted into residential areas, as had been the plan all along by both businessmen.