Passenger traffic and flight movements continue to grow in September

Hong Kong International Airport (HKIA) continued to record increases in passenger volume and flight movements in September 2013. Passenger throughput grew markedly by 9.3% over the same month last year, reaching 4.8 million, while flight movements saw a year-on-year growth of 5.5% to 30,440. Cargo volume reported a modest decline of 0.8% to 344,000 tonnes.

The growth in passenger traffic in September was mainly driven by visitor traffic, which registered an increase of 12% over the same month last year. Passenger traffic to and from South East Asia and Mainland China outperformed other key regions.

The decline in cargo throughput last month was mainly attributed to a 3% year-on-year drop in imports. Exports recorded a slight decline, while transshipments registered a 1% increase compared to the same month last year.

Stanley Hui Hon-chung, Chief Executive Officer of Airport Authority Hong Kong, said, “Complementing the steady upward trend in air passengers and flight movements, cross-boundary transport at HKIA also served a significant number of visitors during the National Day Golden Week earlier this month. Cross-boundary limousine and coach passengers to and from the Pearl River Delta set a new daily record of around 10,500 on 7 October. Furthermore, over 50,000 passengers used our SkyPier ferry services during the first seven days of the month, which is a reflection of the increasing importance of HKIA as a gateway to the Pearl River Delta.

“According to HKIA’s winter flight schedule, which commences at the end of October, the airport will soon be handling around 1,068 scheduled flights daily. Working closely in concert with government departments and business partners, I am confident HKIA can maintain the highest standards of safety, efficiency and service quality while serving greater number of travellers than ever before,” Mr Hui added.

For the first three quarters of 2013, HKIA handled 44.8 million passengers, 3 million tonnes of cargo and 275,645 flight movements, representing year-on-year increases of 6%, 1.7% and 5.6% respectively.

On a rolling 12-month basis, passenger volume at the airport rose 5.4% yearly to 59 million. Cargo tonnage grew 2.8% to 4.1 million tonnes, while flight movements went up 5.6% to 366,195 over the same period last year.

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