A Cathay Pacific airliner, Flight CX889 from New York, became the first plane to touch down at Hong Kong's new airport at Chek Lap Kok yesterday morning, and the first passengers were full of praise for Asia's biggest and most modern airport.
But as more flights arrived in the wake of the Boeing 747-400, complaints began to accumulate of frustrating computer glitches in the new facilities. Boards showing flight arrival times went blank, and exit gates and baggage conveyor belts failed to work at times. Some passengers had to wait an hour for their luggage. Lifts and escalators failed to operate, often due to overloading by large crowds visiting the new terminal.
The miracle was that the switch from the old airport went almost without a hitch. A convoy of 1,000 lorries and 70 large barges toiled throughout the night to ferry equipment - from baggage trucks to body scanners - from the old airport at Kai Tak, 30 km away, in readiness for the morning rush.
The thousands of immigration officers, police, customs officials, ticket clerks, cleaners, shop assistants and toilet attendants who worked in Kai Tak until Sunday evening were all in place shortly after dawn at the new airport.
All the planes which landed at Kai Tak on Sunday evening had to take off again and circle round to take up position at Chek Lap Kok for the outward morning flights. The Airport Authority said start-up problems and last-minute flight changes confused gate allocations and this in turn caused baggage handling problems.
"To say it's going to be 100 per cent, I'd be lying. But we hope to get more near perfection within the week," said the airport's management director, Mr Chern Heed.
The $20 billion (£14 billion) airport proved unpopular with taxi drivers. Almost all arriving passengers preferred to pay about £10 for the new rapid transit train, rather than £30 for a cab ride into town across the world's biggest road and rail suspension bridge.
At the old airport, hundreds of taxis were kept busy ferrying passengers the short distance into town. Air cargo terminals were also hit by delays due to computer problems on the first day of handling heavy volumes, with some flights delayed 30 minutes.
Hong Kong's chief executive, Mr Tung Chee-hwa, praised the builders of the airport, which is situated on two small islands levelled to a height of six metres.
"It is an outstanding achievement and proof yet again that Hong Kong's `can-do' spirit is alive and well," he said after the arrival of the first flight.
"Today we have put into operation the biggest single project ever undertaken in Hong Kong's history - our new international airport at Chek Lap Kok."
Mr Tung also praised the precision of the overnight relocation operation from the old Kai Tak airport in central Hong Kong to Chek Lap Kok off the outlying island of Lantau in inclement weather overnight.
He said the transfer had been carried out with "commendable precision," adding "meticulous planning and careful execution have paid off."
The airport was at the centre of a huge political wrangle between London and Beijing, when the Chinese leadership accused the British colonial administration of trying to drain the territory's coffers.
Chek Lap Kok's huge new terminal designed by Norman Foster, is four times the size of Kai Tak and will eventually be able to handle around 87 million passengers a year once the second runway opens at the end of 1998.