Continued air traffic growth in October

Hong Kong International Airport (HKIA) achieved steady growth in all three traffic categories in October. Monthly passenger volume climbed significantly by 7.4% from the same month last year to 5.4 million, while cargo volume rose 4.3% to 383,000 tonnes. Flight movements also registered 5.5% year-on-year growth to 33,635.

The growth in October passenger traffic was driven by visitor and transfer/transit numbers, which were up 8% and 11% respectively, from a year ago. Passenger traffic to/from North Asia and Mainland China recorded the most significant increases.

The growth in cargo throughput last month was mainly driven by 15% year-on-year growth in transshipments. During the month, cargo throughput to/from North America and Southeast Asia increased most significantly compared to other key regions.

Eva Tsang, General Manager, Customer Services and China & Industry Affairs of Airport Authority Hong Kong, said, “While maintaining our customer service standards to meet the growing number of passengers, we are also launching a number of exhibitions in the airport to enrich passenger experience while simultaneously promoting local culture and tourist spots in Hong Kong. An exhibition named “Trick Art Journey at HKIA” was launched at the airport in October 2014, treating global travellers to designs by renowned local artists. Through the exhibits, we hope to provide visitors with a fun and interesting glimpse of Hong Kong.”

Eight pieces of trick art are on display at different locations around the Departures Level in the restricted area of Terminal 1, featuring famous tourist spots like the Lam Tsuen Wishing Tree, and festival-oriented cultural activities like Tai Hang fire dragons. Trick art creates an illusion that makes two-dimensional paintings appear as real-life 3D objects.

In the first 10 months of 2014, HKIA handled a total of 52.6 million passenger trips, 3.6 million tonnes of cargo and 323,765 flight movements, representing year-on-year growth of 5.6%, 6.4% and 5.3%, respectively.

On a 12-month rolling basis, passenger volume rose by 5.8% from a year earlier to 62.7 million, while cargo volume rose 6% to 4.3 million tonnes. Flight movements also increased 5.5% year on year to 388,265.