HKIA sets monthly flight movement record

Total for May rises 6.1% to 31,040.

In May, the Hong Kong International Airport handled 4.7 million passengers and 339,000 tons of cargo, up 4.1% and 1.8%, respectively, year-on-year.

The growth in passenger traffic resulted from a 7% year-on-year growth in visitor traffic and a 10% growth in Hong Kong resident traffic. Passenger traffic from Southeast Asia and the mainland performed particularly well.

The growth in cargo throughput last month was driven mainly by exports and transshipments that were up 1% and 4%, respectively, from a year ago. Cargo throughput to and from North America outperformed other key regions.

In the first five months of 2013, passenger traffic increased 4.1% to 23.9 million, while cargo volume also grew 2.2% to 1.6 million tons. Flight movements reached 150,080, representing 4.6% growth compared with the same period last year.

On a rolling 12-month basis, passenger numbers handled reached 57.4 million, and cargo volume of nearly 4.06 million tons was recorded, representing 3.6% and 3.5% growth, respectively. Flight movements also rose by 4.8% year-on-year to 358,290.

Stanley Hui Hon-chung, Chief Executive Officer of the Airport Authority Hong Kong, said they are delighted that monthly flight movement has reached a new record high, beating the previous record of 30,799 set in December 2012.