Cargo volume records strong growth at Hong Kong Airport in first two months of 2017

Mar 20, 2017: Hong Kong International Airport (HKIA) has handled 666,000 tonnes of cargo volume in the first two months of the year. This represents a significant increase of 7.7 percent from the same period last year.

The cargo growth recorded in the first two months of 2017 was mainly due to 11 percent year-on-year increase in transshipments. Exports also recorded an 8 percent growth. Among the key trading regions, traffic to and from North America, Europe and Southeast Asia showed the most significant increases.

Passenger volume also saw 1 percent growth to 11.7 million during the period, while flight movements dropped 1.9 percent to 66,550.

The combined growth of passenger volume in the first two months of 2017 was largely driven by Hong Kong residents’ travel, registering a 6 percent year-on-year growth. Traffic to and from Japan contributed the most to the surge in passenger traffic in the first two months.

Combining throughput figures for the first two months of 2017 cancels out the effect of the Chinese New Year falling into different months in 2016 and 2017.

In February, cargo volume enjoyed a sharp year-on-year increase of 14.1 percent to 294,000 tonnes, while passenger volume and flight movements dropped 3.1 percent and 4.3 percent from the same period last year to 5.5 million and 31,235, respectively.

On a rolling 12-month basis, HKIA has handled 70.6 million passengers, 410,255 flight movements and 4.57 million tonnes of cargo, recording year-on-year increases of 1.7 percent, 0.2 percent and 5.3 percent, respectively.

Meanwhile, HKIA’s achievements in enhancing energy efficiency have been recognised with the award of ISO 50001 certification for Terminal 1 by the British Standards Institution, an international certification agency.

Alex Kwan, executive director, Engineering & Technology of Airport Authority Hong Kong (AA), said, “We are glad that Terminal 1, which houses most of the airport’s main systems, has attained ISO 50001 certification. By specifying the requirements for establishing, implementing, maintaining and improving the energy management system, the certification exercise enables HKIA to follow a systematic approach in continuously improving energy performance. This certification is a recognition of our achievements in enhancing various systems to attain energy efficiency.”

"The AA set up the Energy Management Office in 2015 to establish a framework for initiating projects and introducing technologies to ensure that the airport operates in a sustainable manner. For example, we have replaced all traditional lighting with LEDs in Terminal 1, which saves 18 million kWh of electricity annually. Efforts to further enhance the energy efficiency of our facilities are continuing, with a view to maintaining HKIA as one of the greenest airports in the world," added Kwan.