Hong Kong International Airport set new daily and monthly records for cargo tonnage in November.
During the month, cargo volume saw 6.6 percent growth over the same month last year, reaching 399,000 tonnes, and breaking the previous monthly record of 374,000 tonnes set in November 2012.
There was also 6.8 percent growth in passenger traffic, driven mainly by Hong Kong resident traffic and visitor traffic. Flight movements rose by 6.5 percent.
Growth in cargo throughput was primarily due to 6 percent growth in exports and 13 percent growth in transshipments. During the month, cargo traffic to and from Southeast Asia and Mainland China improved most significantly compared to other key regions.
“We were delighted to see cargo flow at HKIA breaking a new daily record of over 15,000 tonnes on 24 November,” Stanley Hui Hon-chung, CEO of Airport Authority Hong Kong, said. “The expanding network and frequency of air services at HKIA also affords better opportunities to capture more cargo transshipment. Fueled by burgeoning demand from the traditional Christmas peak season, we expect this promising growth in cargo to continue throughout the rest of the year.”
Over the first 11 months of 2013, HKIA handled 3.7 million tonnes of cargo and 339,200 flight movements, representing growth of 2.6 percent and 5.7 percent, respectively, over the same period last year.
On a rolling 12-month basis, cargo volume grew 3.1 percent to 4.1 million tonnes. Flight movements rose 5.7 percent from the previous year to 370,000.