Hong Kong International Airport reports 13% increase in Jan-2012 pax, cargo slumps 18%

Hong Kong International Airport (HKIA) passenger numbers up 12.5% - traffic highlights for Jan-2012:

• Dec-2011:
  • Passenger numbers: 4.9 million, +12.5% year-on-year;
  • Cargo volume: 275,000 tonnes, -17.5%;
  • Aircraft movements: 29,000, +5.8%.

A new daily record of approximately 187,000 passengers was registered on 28-Jan-2012, the sixth day of Chinese New Year (CNY). The growth in passenger traffic was mainly driven by Hong Kong resident traffic, which reported a yearly increase of 36% amid the CNY peak travel season. Traffic to/from the Mainland and South East Asia performed particularly well. [more - original PR]

Airport Authority Hong Kong: "The impact of CNY falling in January this year but February last year has given rise to a biased base for year-on-year comparisons. The changes in passenger and cargo traffic would be smaller were we to average out CNY's impact by looking at January and February together. Nonetheless, the strong start in terms of passenger and aircraft movements is encouraging. Although cargo is expected to be slow following a general decline last year, there have been signs of a slowdown in the rate of decline since the last quarter of 2011," Stanley Hui Hon-chung, CEO. Source: Company statement, 19-Feb-2012.