Record passenger arrivals at Hong Kong Airport

Passenger air travel kept flying high despite the continuing economic doldrums hammering the city.

Hong Kong International Airport saw 4.9 million passengers and 29,000 aircraft movements in January, up 12.5% and 5.8% year-on-year.

A new daily record of 187,000 passengers was also registered on January 28, the Airport Authority said.

The growth was mainly driven by Hong Kong resident traffic, which reported a yearly increase of 36% during the Lunar New Year peak travel season. Traffic to and from the Mainland and Southeast Asia performed particularly well.

It was the reverse for cargo traffic, however. Cargo shipments dropped 17.5% year-on-year to 275,000 tonnes as a result of sluggish seasonal demand during the Lunar New Year. Exports dropped by 20% year-on-year, while imports and transshipments decreased by 18% and 11%, reflecting a slowing down of the economy.

The authority said although cargo is expected to be slow following a general decline last year, there have been signs of a slowdown in the rate of decline since the last quarter of 2011. It is confident the aviation industry’s performance will continue to be vibrant in the long run.

On a rolling 12-month basis, passenger and aircraft movements rose 6.1% to 54.5 million and 8.0% to 335,350. Cargo volume registered a decrease of 6.7% to 3.9 million tonnes.