The number of passengers passing through Hong Kong International Airport (HKIA) climbed 6.9% in the first half of 2012, to 27.6 million.
The growth included a new single-day record of approximately 194,000 passengers, set on 28 April 2012. In addition, air traffic movements climbed by 5.8% to 171,870 during the first six months of the year.
The rate of growth slowed slightly in June 2012, compared to previous months. Last month, passenger traffic rose to 4.7m and air traffic movements reached 28,415, representing increases of 5.5% and 4.9% respectively compared to June 2011.
Stanley Hui Hon-chung, Chief Executive Officer of Airport Authority Hong Kong (AA), said the 2012 growth had been helped by the arrival of several new airlines. “We are… pleased to welcome the addition of four new airlines, Far Eastern Air Transport, Mongolian Airlines Group, Peach Aviation and AirAsia Philippines, each of whom launched services at HKIA in 2012. Such keen interest in being able to operate routes to and from HKIA reflects the attractiveness of Hong Kong as a market and underpins the competitiveness of the airport being a leading international and regional aviation hub,” he said.
Cross-border traffic by land and sea between HKIA and the Pearl River Delta region also increased in the first half of this year. Passenger trips via coach and car registered a yearly increase of 5.3% to 959,000, while the airport’s SkyPier ferry terminal handled almost 1.3m passengers to and from the Pearl River Delta, up 11.6% year-on-year.
“While we are continuously enhancing with our short-, medium- and long-term development programmes, we also recognise how vital human resources are to the efficiency, safety and service standards of HKIA. The AA and the Labour Department will jointly host a large-scale job expo in early August, helping the airport community recruit staff to meet its operational and growth needs,” said Hui.
On a rolling 12-month basis, the airport welcomed 55.7 million passengers and handled 343,165 flight movements, representing year-on-year growth of 6.4% and 5.9% respectively.
