HKIA registers spur in passenger and air cargo traffic in November

December 20, 2017: Hong Kong International Airport (HKIA) registered a significant spike in growth in all three air traffic figures in November.

During the month, passenger volume rose by 10 percent to 5.94 million, while flight movements increased by 7 percent to 34,900 compared to the same month last year. Cargo throughput also rose by 6.9 percent year-on-year to 466,000 tonnes.

Passenger traffic recorded strong growth in November. Building on a low base, created by a temporary reduction of timeslots due to the launch of the new air traffic management system last year, passenger growth was mainly driven by a 16 percent year-on-year increase in transfer/transit traffic.

Passenger traffic to and from Southeast Asia, Mainland China and Japan recorded the most significant increases.

Transshipments and exports were the key drivers of growth in cargo throughput in November. Compared to the same month last year, transshipments registered 10 percent year-on-year growth, and exports recorded an eight percent increase. Amongst the key trading regions, traffic to/from North America, India and Europe increased most significantly.

Over the first 11 months of 2017, HKIA has welcomed 66.5 million passengers, and handled 383,995 flight movements, marking year-on-year increases of 3.3 percent and 2.2 percent, respectively. Cargo throughput soared 9.6 percent in the same period in 2016 to 4.48 million tonnes.

On a rolling 12-month basis, HKIA handled 72.6 million passengers and 419,660 flight movements, recording year-on-year increases of 3.2 percent and 2 percent, respectively, while cargo throughput climbed 9.7 percent to 4.91 million tonnes.

CK Ng, executive director, airport operations of Airport Authority Hong Kong said, "As the year draws to an end, we expect to see a travel peak at HKIA during the Christmas and New Year holidays. Over the period, a total of 112 additional flights would be arranged by airlines to cope with the surge in travel demand. The most popular destinations are Kuala Lumpur, Sapporo, Osaka and Taipei. We will work closely with our business partners and the airport community to ensure smooth operations during the festive period."

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