Typhoon Mangkhut Causes Slight Drop in HKIA’s Air Traffic Figures for September 2018

Hong Kong International Airport (HKIA) recorded slight decreases in all three air traffic categories in September due primarily to Typhoon Mangkhut, which resulted in no flight movement for more than 20 hours.

During the month, passenger volume decreased by 0.3% year on year to 5.6 million. Cargo and airmail throughput was 431,000 tonnes, a drop of 1.4% compared to the same month last year, while flight movements declined by 2.7% to 33,705.

Following the flight cancellations, HKIA implemented extensive rescheduling involving more than 1,000 flight movements in one day as the storm gradually moved away from Hong Kong.

Although Hong Kong resident travel and visitor traffic to Hong Kong as destination saw 4% and 1% growth respectively, the decrease in transfer/ transit traffic led to an overall decrease in the passenger traffic in September compared with the same month last year.

Overall passenger traffic to and from Japan and Southeast Asia experienced the most significant drop as a result of the typhoon.

The reduction in cargo throughput was mainly attributed to a 4% decrease in exports. Transshipments continued to be the  relatively stronger cargo category, achieving during the month a 3% year-on-year growth. Amongst the key trading regions, traffic to and from Europe and Japan declined most significantly.

Over the first nine months of 2018, HKIA handled 56 million passengers and 3.75 million tonnes of cargo and airmail, representing year-on-year increases of 3% and 2.6%, respectively. Flight movements increased by 1.8% to 318,650 compared to the same period last year.

On a 12-month rolling basis, passenger volume and flight movements grew by 4% and 2.5% to 74.5 million and 426,205, respectively. HKIA recorded cargo and airmail throughput of 5.1 million tonnes, representing a 3.3% year-on-year surge.

Steven Yiu, Deputy Director, Service Delivery for Airport Authority Hong Kong, said, “I would like to extend my heartfelt gratitude to our colleagues for performing their duties admirably in the face of Typhoon Mangkhut, enabling us to handle the affected flights efficiently and resume normal operations within a short period.”

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