Source: The Standard Author: Mandy Lo 01/18/2010
Subject Concerned: Cargo Airport
Traffic at Hong Kong International Airport (HKIA) is expected to return to growth this year after 2009 turned out to be its worst on record.
Travel and cargo demand were hit by the financial tsunami, but passenger traffic and flight numbers rose while cargo tonnage saw a double-digit rebound in the fourth quarter.
For the first time since the airport opened in 1998, all three categories - passenger traffic, cargo tonnage and air traffic movements - posted a year-on-year decline in 2009, Airport Authority Hong Kong (AAHK) data showed on January 17.
Passenger traffic at Chek Lap Kok dropped 5 percent to 46.1 million travelers. Cargo tonnage fell 7.7 percent to 3.35 million tonnes and air traffic movements declined 7.2 percent to 279,505 flights as of December 31, 2009.
"Hong Kong's aviation industry faced a number of challenges in 2009," authority chief executive Stanley Hui Hon-chung said.
Hui said the airport was adversely affected by the outbreak of human swine flu and more direct fights between the mainland and Taiwan.
But the situation is expected to turn around this year as cargo tonnage returned to a growth of 16.2 percent in the October-to-December period, after dropping for three quarters in a row.
Passenger traffic and air traffic movements sank 0.2 percent and 5.1 percent respectively, an improvement from a decline of 3.5 percent and 8.2 percent in the third quarter.
Cargo throughput last month surged 35.5 percent to 333,000 tonnes as trade between China and Western economies recovered.