Hong Kong International Airport (HKIA) set a new monthly record in terms of flight movements in March 2012.
The airport recorded with 29,600 aircraft movements, 5.2% more than in March 2011 and ahead of the previous record of 29,300 set in December 2011. Passenger traffic grew 9% year-on-year to 4.6 million.
The growth in passenger traffic in March was mainly driven by Hong Kong resident and visitor traffic, which registered increases of 20% and 8% respectively over the same month last year. Passenger traffic to and from mainland China and Southeast Asia also performed well.
Stanley Hui Hon-chung, Chief Executive Officer of
, said he was pleased with the figures. “In addition to the good growth in passenger traffic and flight movements, we have also seen an improvement in cargo performance despite economic uncertainty. Looking forward, we are confident about the outlook for air traffic performance at HKIA. With runway capacity at HKIA having increased to 63 flights per hour since late March, daily scheduled fights are close to 1,000 for the summer operating season. We believe passenger volume and flight movements are likely to sustain their growth trends, while cargo tonnage should continue to improve at a slower pace.”
In the first quarter of 2012, passenger traffic registered a yearly 8% increase, reaching 13.6 million, while aircraft movements grew by 6.6% to 85,170.
