HKIA's passenger trips inched 1.1% higher to 4.9m

Thanks to strong visitation to and from Southeast Asia.

According to a report, passenger trips and air-traffic movements at Hong Kong International Airport rose 1.1% and 5.1% year-on-year in April, to 4.9 million and 30,530, while cargo volume increased 4.5% to 342,000 tonnes.

The Airport Authority said today that for the first four months of the year, the airport handled 19.2 million passengers, 1.28 million tonnes of cargo, and 119,025 flight movements, representing year-on-year growth of 4.1%, 2.2% and 4.2%.

Visitation was the main driver behind the growth in passenger traffic, with a 7% increase on the same month in 2012. Routes to and from the Mainland and Southeast Asia performed particularly well.

Higher cargo throughput in April was primarily the result of 5% year-on-year growth in exports. During the month, cargo throughput to and from Southeast Asia and Taiwan outperformed other key regions.

The authority’s Chief Executive Officer Stanley Hui said to meet the increasing demand for the medium term, six new parking stands will become operational by next month, and another 15 will be available by year's-end.

On a rolling 12-month basis, the airport's passenger throughput rose 3.5% to 57.2 million. Cargo volume and aircraft movements went up 3.4% and 4.7% to 4.05 million tonnes and 356,475.