Hong Kong International Airport (HKIA) and the Cathay Pacific group both reported a surge in air cargo traffic in March.
HKIA registered a year-on-year growth of 10.4 percent to 397,000 tonnes last month, driven mainly by exports and transshipments, which were up 10 percent and 17 percent, respectively, from a year ago.
The increase in air cargo in March arose partly from heavier cargo throughput to and from China and North America and partly from seasonal trends, although this year logged larger growth rates than usual, said HKIA operator and developer Airport Authority Hong Kong (AAHK).
“We are delighted that HKIA remained the world’s busiest cargo airport for the fourth consecutive year,” said Stanley Hui Hon-Chung, chief executive officer.
He added that the airport handled 997,000 tonnes of cargo in the first quarter of this year, representing year-on-year growth of 5.6 percent.
On a rolling 12-month basis, the airport processed 4.2 million tonnes of cargo for a 3.5 percent hike.
Meanwhile, Hong Kong-based sister airlines Cathay Pacific and Dragonair carried 155,352 tonnes of cargo and mail in March, an increase of 13.8 percent compared to the same month last year.
In the first quarter of 2014, tonnage rose by 3.9 percent compared to the same period a year ago.
“After a poor start to the year in January and February, our cargo business benefited from a significant upsurge in traffic last month,” said Mark Sutch, Cathay Pacific general manager of cargo sales and marketing.
He noted a strong pickup in demand out of both Hong Kong and China as the airlines operated close to a full freighter schedule for much of the month.
“There was strong demand to and from the USA and we launched another destination, Columbus, Ohio, during the month. Our recently launched services to Guadalajara and Mexico City also saw healthy loads,” he added.
Photo: Aero Icarus
