HKIA passenger volume up 3.3% to 72.9 million passengers in 2017

The airport has also handled over 5 million tonnes of cargo and airmail in the previous year.

Hong Kong International Airport closed 2017 on greater heights as it registered sustained growth levels across all air traffic categories after handling 72.9 million passengers and 5.05 million tonnes of cargo and airmail in a year.

According to a press release, air passenger traffic rose 3.3% YoY whilst flight movements grew 2.2% YoY to 420,630 in 2017.

In a breakdown, cargo throughput increased 9.2% YoY to 4.94m tonnes. HKIA similarly handled 112,000 tonnes of airmail in the year.

“HKIA is the first airport in the world to have ever handled over 5 million tonnes of cargo and airmail in a year. This achievement is particularly remarkable as we are concurrently handling over 72 million passengers annually. Such an accomplishment could not have been done without the support and dedicated service of our 73,000 airport community members,” said Airport Authority Hong Kong CEO Fred Lam.

During the year, 13 new airlines joined the airport namely Air Seoul, Hong Kong Air Cargo Carrier, JC (Cambodia) International Airlines, Lanmei Airlines (Cambodia), Virgin Australia, Air Japan, Air Cargo Global, CargoLogicAir, Cambodia Angkor Air, Small Planet Airlines, National Air Cargo, Sky Gates Airlines and Western Global Airlines.

Baotou, Huangshan, Yuncheng, Taitung, Hahn in Frankfurt, Prague, Verona and Warsaw were also amongst those newly added to the airport’s extensive air network this year.

Lam adds that as the airport welcomes its 20th anniversary, it is launching a tender to develop a premium logistics warehouse in Kwo Lo wan for the handling of e-commerce shipments and exploring new ways to incorporate new technologies into its operations to continuously enhance air passenger travel.   

Photo fromToyotaboy95 at English Wikipedia, CC BY-SA 3.0