Hong Kong residents are flying less often

Resident travel plunged 21% in January year-on-year.

Passenger trips fell 5.1% to 4.6 million during the month, said the Hong Kong International Airport Authority.

On the other hand, cargo volume and air traffic movements at HKIA rose 21% and 4.4% year-on-year to 334,000 tonnes and 30,290 tonnes in January.

All major markets showed growth in cargo with Taiwan and North America outperforming other key regions. Imports, exports and transshipments all grew by double digits.

HKIAA Chief Executive Officer Stanley Hui said the substantial surge in cargo throughput and the single-digit drop in passenger trips was due to the impact of Chinese New Year.

"Likewise, with most factories on the Mainland closed for the Chinese New Year holidays, air cargo is expected to decline in February over last year," he said.

On a rolling 12-month basis, HKIA’s passenger throughput rose 3.2% to 56.2 million. Both cargo volume and aircraft movements went up 5.2% to 4.1 million tonnes and 352,950.