Air Traffic at HKIA Continues to be Impacted by COVID19 Pandemic

In June 2020, Hong Kong International Airport (HKIA) recorded year-on-year decreases in passengers and flight movements of 99.1% and 71.8% to 59,000 and 9,945, respectively.

Cargo throughput saw a decrease of 7.7% to 357,000 tonnes compared to the same month last year.

The drop in cargo throughput was mainly attributed to the decline in transhipments resulting from reduced belly capacity on passenger flights. Cargo throughput to and from Mainland China and Southeast Asia saw the most significant decreases in June. However, with demand for air cargo services remaining relatively strong, freighter movements increased 23.1% compared to the same month last year. Cargo exports recorded a year-on-year increase of 7%, with North American markets recording the most significant growth.

Due to the continuation of entry restrictions for non-Hong Kong residents, visitor traffic decreased by more than 99%. The gradual resumption of transfer / transit services brought some transfer / transit passenger traffic to HKIA, yet demand was still weak and the transfer / transit traffic in June decreased by almost 100% year-on-year. Hong Kong resident travel decreased by 98% year-on-year.

Over the first half of the year, HKIA handled 8.3 million passengers and 94,120 flight movements, equalling year-on-year decreases of 78.1% and 55.8%, respectively. Cargo throughput saw a 10.2% drop to 2.1 million tonnes.

On a 12-month rolling basis, passengers and flight movements decreased 44.5% and 29.9% to 42 million and 300,915, respectively. Cargo throughput fell 7.7% to 4.6 million tonnes.

Separately, HKIA was named the winner of the Air Transport Research Society’s “Top Asian Airport Efficiency Excellence” award, the 10th time the airport has won the award since its inception in 2003. Competing with other Asia- Pacific airports serving more than 40 million passengers annually, HKIA was commended for excellence in areas including operational and managerial efficiency, cost-competitiveness, financial performance and air charges.

Steven Yiu, Deputy Director, Service Delivery of Hong Kong's Airport Authority, said, “Despite the global challenges brought by the pandemic, we have not ceased our endeavours to enhance HKIA’s operational efficiency and services by leveraging new technologies. For example, we are introducing the ‘single token journey’, which offers a seamless and, more importantly, contactless departure process that could enhance passengers’ confidence in air travel. Backed by this and the many other robust safety and preventive measures that have already been put in place, we are ready as always to serve our passengers again.”

See also: Airports, Air Travel and COVID19 - Exclusive Interview with SITA's President of Asia Pacific, Sumesh Patel.

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