Passenger and cargo figures at Hong Kong International Airport (HKIA) fell in September 2019 compared to the same month a year ago, according to Airport Authority Hong Kong (AA).
During the month, HKIA handled 4.9 million passengers, representing a year-on-year decline of 12.8%, AA said in a statement October 20.
Cargo throughput saw a decrease of 5.9% year-on-year to 406,000 tonnes in September, a narrower decline compared to the previous month.
The drop in visitor traffic is the key factor accounting for the overall decrease in passenger volume in September, added AA.
On the other hand, transfer/transit passenger traffic recorded a 5% increase and the number of passengers travelling between Hong Kong and Japan also saw a growth of 4% when compared to the same period last year.
The momentum of transfer passenger traffic continued during the National Day “golden week” holidays from October 1 to 7, as SkyPier at HKIA handled a record-breaking 15,455 cross-boundary ferry passengers on October 1, surpassing the daily record of 12,922 passengers set in 2015. The daily sea-to-air and air-to-sea passenger numbers both achieved new records, registering over 14,347 passengers on October 1 and 8,854 on October 7, respectively.
Amid continuous global trade uncertainties, cargo volume continued to contract in September. However, transshipment saw a significant improvement, with the double-digit decreases in the previous months narrowing to a single-digit 5% decrease in September. Amongst key trading regions, Japan and India contributed positive growth.
On a 12-month rolling basis, passenger throughput and cargo throughput declined 0.5% and 5.7% to 74.1 million passengers and 4.9 million tonnes, respectively.
Photo courtesy of HKIA
