Hong Kong Int. Airport Reports April 2011 Traffic

Hong Kong International Airport (HKIA) has reported strong growth in flight movements and passenger volume for the month of April 2011.

Flight movements surged 12.1% from a year earlier to 27,685 while passenger trips increased 8.5% to 4.5 million. Cargo tonnage amounted to 330,000 over the same period, down 6.5% year on year.

The growth in passenger traffic in April was mainly driven by local resident travel as well as visitor traffic, which registered yearly growth of 13% and 8% respectively. Passenger traffic to/ from South East Asia performed particularly well.

The decline of cargo throughput last month was mainly attributable to the 9.5% drop in exports compared to the same month last year. Both imports and transshipments decreased by 3% in April. Taiwan, Japan and the Mainland experienced double-digit year-on-year declines.

Stanley Hui Hon-Chung, Chief Executive Officer of Airport Authority Hong Kong, said, "The year-on-year decrease is mainly the result of a higher base from the same period last year. The disruption to the logistics and supply chains of many industries caused by the earthquake in Japan in March also played a part in the decrease in tonnage. Despite the current slowdown, the industry is cautiously optimistic of the future of air cargo in the later part of the year, which is the usual peak time for air cargo."

Over the past 12 months, the airport handled 51.8 million passengers and more than 4.1 million tonnes of cargo, representing increases of 10.7% and 12.8% respectively. Aircraft movements also saw an increase of 13.7%, amounting to 319,320.

See recent travel news from: Travel News Asia, HKIA, Hong Kong Airport, April 2011, Hong Kong