Source: AFP Author: 06/14/2009
Subject Concerned: Cargo Airport
Air cargo shipped through Hong Kong dropped 17.6 percent year-on-year in May, the city's airport authority said, as the global downturn continued to slash demand for goods made in southern China.
Hong Kong International Airport (HKIA) handled 259,000 tonnes of cargo in May as shrinking markets in Europe and the United States hit traffic hardest, the Airport Authority Hong Kong (AAHK) said in a statement released on June 14.
The number of passengers passing through the airport, which is one of Asia's key transport hubs, dropped 12.7 percent year-on-year to 3.6 million, the statistics showed.
Passenger markets that suffered most were southeast Asia, Taiwan, Japan, China and North America.
The total number of journeys in and out of the airport dropped 9.1 percent over the same period.
"The negative performance reflected largely the impact of continuing global recession and the new but serious impact of Influenza A (H1N1) virus, further weakening the aviation market and resulting in airlines reducing flight frequencies," said Airport Authority Hong Kong's (AAHK) chief executive officer Stanley Hui.
He said he expected the trend to continue through June.