Traffic @ HKIA Continues Growth in September

Hong Kong International Airport sustained solid growth in passenger volume and aircraft movements in September 2011.

During the month, passenger traffic climbed 5.4% from a year earlier to 4.3 million while flight movements went up 6.1% to 27,695. Cargo volume dropped 6.1% year on year to 325,000 tonnes.

The growth in passenger traffic was mainly driven by visitor traffic which registered yearly growth of 7%. Passenger traffic to / from South East Asia performed particularly well.

The decline in cargo tonnage in September was mainly attributed to the 10% year-on-year drop in exports. Imports decreased 6% and transshipments grew 5% compared to the same month last year. Europe, North America and Taiwan experienced double-digit declines in overall cargo traffic.

“In addition to receiving more air passengers, I’m also delighted to see airlines choose to operate new generation aircraft at HKIA, which reflects the significance of HKIA as a regional and international aviation hub. Cargolux has just deployed the new B747-8 freighter aircraft to fly regularly between Luxembourg and Hong Kong,” said Stanley Hui Hon-chung, Chief Executive Officer of Airport Authority Hong Kong. “Later this month, ANA will operate a special charter flight from Tokyo to Hong Kong using the world’s first B787 Dreamliner aircraft. These two new aircraft types, classified by the aviation industry as Chapter 4 jetliners, are more fuel efficient with a lower emission level and quieter operation than older generations of aircraft.”

In the first three quarters of 2011, passenger traffic recorded a yearly 5.8% increase, reaching 40.2 million, while flight movements surged 10.3% to 248,020. Cargo volume dropped 3.9% to 2.9 million tonnes.

Over the past 12 months, the airport handled 53.1 million passengers and 329,705 aircraft movements, representing year-on-year increases of 6.5% and 11.2% respectively. Cargo volume recorded a small decrease of 0.3% in the same period, amounting to 4 million tonnes.

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