HKIA Reports May 2011 Traffic

Hong Kong International Airport's passenger throughput and flight movements continued to grow steadily in May 2011, posting respective year-on-year increases of 5.6% and 9.8%, to 4.3 million and 27,845.

Cargo volume recorded 330,000 tonnes during the month, representing a decrease of 9.9% from the corresponding period last year.

The growth in passenger traffic was mainly driven by Hong Kong resident travel, which registered growth of 13% over the same period last year. Passenger traffic to/ from South East Asia performed particularly well during the period.

The decline in cargo throughput was mainly attributable to a 13% decrease in exports during the month. Import and transshipment volumes also dropped by 7% and 5% respectively. Europe, Taiwan, Japan and the Mainland all experienced double-digit year-on-year declines.

Stanley Hui Hon-chung, Chief Executive Officer of Airport Authority Hong Kong, said the weak cargo performance was partly due to the higher comparison base of last May, when traffic surged 41.6% to 366,000 tonnes amid the strong worldwide economic rebound. Some other major hub airports in the Asia Pacific region have also seen weaker air cargo performances.

"Between May and July this year, five new carriers, namely Air Busan, MIAT Mongolian Airlines, Tianjin Airlines, Jin Air and Airphil Express, will start operating at HKIA, providing more choices to our passengers in terms of both destinations and flight frequency. With these newcomers, HKIA will have around 100 airlines operating flights to about 160 destinations worldwide," Mr Hui said.

On a rolling 12-month basis, the airport's passenger and cargo volumes were 52.1 million and 4.1 million tonnes respectively, representing increases of 9.9% and 8.7%. Flight movements also saw a yearly increase of 13.8% during the period, reaching 321,805.

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