The $20-billion Chek Lap Kok airport has provoked complaints since it opened on Monday about lengthy delays before passengers could get off airplanes or collect luggage and confusing flight information.

The chairman of the Airport Authority, Wong Po-yan, said he took responsibility for the problems and offered to step down when his term ends in November, government-run radio Hong Kong reported. There was no immediate word from Hong Kong's chief executive Tung Chee-hwa.

The government said on Friday it would appoint two outside experts and an influential Hong Kong figure to investigate the problems. Legislators criticized the proposal, saying they want a panel appointed by the Hong Kong legislature to ensure the government doesn't try to conceal its ownmistakes.

Dutch airline KLM revealed on Friday that one of its planes violated safety rules by taking off with the bags of two passengers who weren't aboard. Airlines are required to remove the bags of absent passengers to guard against explosives.

Automated printers that check boarding passes and baggage numbers have not worked since the airport opened, forcing KLM staff to check passes by hand and count passengers aboard planes, said Albert Chan, the KLM passenger services manager.

"It has really been a mess," said Chan. "But (the Airport Authority) is doing everything possible to maintain airport security."

The company handling cargo at the airport imposed a moratorium on new shipments this week in order to clear away a backlog.

The moratorium will cost Hong Kong air cargo terminals HK$5 million ($640,000) a day, said Anthony Charter, the company managing director. The company handles 5,000 tonne of freight daily, worth HK$1.7 billion ($217 million).

Delays in shipments have forced sellers offresh seafood to close.

"The delays could reduce economic growth this year by 0.1 percentage points provided that the period of moratorium is limited to what they say," financial secretary Donald Tsang said late on Friday.

It was the first official estimate for losses caused by problems at the airport.

The airport was built on an outlying island about 30 kilometers (22 miles) west of the Hong Kong's city centre in one of the world's biggest construction projects.

Hong Kong leaders had hoped its opening would revive public confidence in the midst of Asia's economic crisis. Instead, it has created a public-relations disaster.

On the fundamental question on whether the airport has been put in good hands, the answer is "no", wrote commentator Chris Yeung in the South China Morning Post.