HKIA reports strong traffic figures for December

HKIA reports strong traffic figures for December

Jan 26, 2012
Air Freight, Airlines
Cargo Airports and Services

In December 2011, Hong Kong International Airport (HKIA) set a new monthly record for air traffic with 29,275 aircraft movements, exceeding the previous record of 28,951 in August 2011 and representing 5.5 per cent year-on-year growth. During the month, passenger traffic increased 7.5 per cent to 4.8 million, while cargo throughput saw a relatively smaller decline of 4.3 per cent to 346,000 tonnes from a year earlier.

The rise in passenger traffic in December was mainly driven by visitor traffic, which registered 8 per cent growth over the same month in 2010. Passenger traffic to and from the Mainland and South East Asia performed particularly well.

The cargo decline in December was mainly attributed to the 7 per cent year-on-year drop in exports. Imports decreased by 5 per cent while transshipments registered 3 per cent growth compared to the same month in 2010. Europe and North America experienced double-digit year-on-year declines in overall cargo traffic as a result of the continued weak economic conditions in these two major markets.

For the year 2011, HKIA welcomed 53.9 million passengers and handled 333,760 aircraft movements, representing growth of 5.9 per cent and 8.9 per cent respectively as compared to 2010. Annual cargo performance decreased 4.6 per cent to 3.9 million tonnes. Both passenger trips and aircraft movements set new records.

The year 2011 saw 13 new airlines start operations at HKIA, bringing the total number of airlines serving in Hong Kong to over 100. Multiple expansion and improvement projects are underway to maintain and improve service. HKIA has started a HK$500 million rejuvenation programme to upgrade a range of utilities and in December 2011 the airport broke ground on the HK$9 billion Midfield project to meet growth demand for the medium term.

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