HK air freight volumes rise in January, but passenger numbers fall

HONG KONG International Airport's air cargo throughput rose to 301,000 tonnes in January, an increase of 43.3 per cent compared to the same month last year.

Nearly all major markets showed double-digit year-on-year growth, with imports and exports recording annual yearly gains of 55 per cent and 51 per cent respectively in January. Transshipment volumes were up by 14 per cent year on year.

But passenger traffic declined by 1.6 per cent to 3.9 million, while air traffic movements fell 3.2 per cent in January to 23,460, the Airport Authority said.

The declines in air passenger volume and air traffic movement were attributed to "the relatively higher base as a result of the Chinese New Year travel peak last January," said the Hong Kong Government statement.

"While passenger volume and air traffic movements showed mild declines year on year due to the timing difference of the Chinese New Year holiday, we believe January and February taken together will likely also show an encouraging growth trend over the same period last year," said Airport Authority's CEO Stanley Hui.

On a rolling 12-month basis, cargo tonnage fell 2.9 per cent to 3.4 million tonnes, while passenger traffic dropped 5.2 per cent to 46.1 million. Air traffic movements saw a year on year decline of 7.3 per cent to 278,705.

(Source: www.schednet.com)