Hong Kong Airport reports 5% fall in 2009 pax numbers

Hong Kong International Airport reports (17-Jan-2010) the following traffic highlights:

• Dec-2009:
  • Passenger numbers: 4.2 million, +3.4% year-on-year;
  • Cargo volume: 330,000 tonnes, +35.5%;
  • Aircraft movements: 24,225, -2.1%;
• 2009:
  • Passenger numbers: 46.1 million, -5.0% year-on-year;
  • Cargo volume: 3.3 million tonnes, -7.7%;
  • Aircraft movements: 279,505, -7.2%. [more]

Airport Authority Hong Kong: "Hong Kong's aviation industry faced a number of challenges in 2009. We saw contractions in all three air traffic categories, which was due in large part to the global financial crisis that began in the latter part of 2008. The outbreak of H1N1 and the gradual increase in the number of cross-strait direct flights also had negative effects on HKIA…In addition, volatile fuel prices, yield erosion from significantly reduced demand in front-end business traffic, and low cargo yields for most of 2009 caused airlines to reduce frequencies and suspend services to destinations, which continued to result in financial losses," Stanley Hui Hon-chung, Chief Executive Officer of the Airport Authority Hong Kong. Source: HKIA, 17-Jan-2010.