HKIA passenger traffic growth pauses in May

HONG KONG, 27 June 2023: Airport Authority Hong Kong (AAHK) reports the growth in traffic figures at Hong Kong International Airport (HKIA) during May stalled, maintaining the same pace as recorded in April.

During May, HKIA handled 3.1 million passengers, about the same as April’s throughput, while flight movements increased month-on-month by 3% to 22,200.

For year-on-year comparisons, the passenger volume and flight movements in May represent increases of over 17 times and 113% due to the low base last year.

Separately, cargo throughput in May dropped 4% to 350,000 tonnes compared to last year. Cargo volume continued to be impacted by global economic uncertainties. Overall cargo volume declined in May, with imports decreasing by 30% compared to last year. Traffic to and from Southeast Asia, Taiwan, and Japan significantly reduced during the month.

Over the first five months of the year, the airport handled 13.2 million passengers and 96,410 flight movements, marking an increase of over 23 times and 89%, respectively, from the low base in the same period of 2022. Cargo volume declined year-on-year by 6.1% to 1.6 million tonnes.

On a 12-month rolling basis, passenger volume at HKIA increased year-on-year by more than 10 times to 18.3 million, while flight movements rose by 27.9% to 184,170. Cargo throughput saw a decrease of 16.0% to 4.1 million tonnes.

Meanwhile, HKIA has won the Gold Award in the “Over 35 million passengers per annum” category of the Green Airports Recognition 2023. Established by Airports Council International Asia-Pacific, the programme recognises airports with outstanding accomplishments in sustainability projects.

AAHK general manager of sustainability Peter Lee said: “We are honoured to receive this recognition, which reflects our dedication and commitment to developing HKIA into the world’s greenest airport. We will continue to work closely with the airport community to minimise our environmental footprint, strengthen waste management initiatives and expand the scale of our recycling efforts.”

(Source: AAHK)