The Hong Kong International Airport recorded one-day passenger traffic of more than 171,000 on Sunday (July 21), a record high in the post-epidemic period, and is expected to continue to grow during the summer peak season, the Airport Authority (AA) said today (July 24). The AA said it has confidence that by the end of this year, the airport's passenger throughput during the peak traveling season will be fully restored to the pre-epidemic level.
According to the AA, passenger traffic at the airport in the first half of this year jumped 52.8% to 25.3 million compared with the first half of last year, while the number of aircraft movements jumped 47.1% to 174,745; and cargo traffic recorded a year-on-year increase of 17.9% to 2.4 million tonnes. Cargo volumes maintained their upward trend in the first half of the year and continued to register double-digit year-on-year growth. Export cargo continued to be the main growth driver, increasing by 24.9% year-on-year.
Passenger traffic maintained a steady recovery in June, with all categories of passengers, including Hong Kong residents and visitors, as well as connecting and transit passengers, posting significant increases over the same month last year, with the most notable increases recorded in the month for traffic to and from Southeast Asia, Mainland China and Japan.
The AA pointed out that the airport's passenger traffic has shown tremendous growth in the past 12 months, surging by 125.9% year-on-year to 4.82 million, while the number of aircraft movements and cargo volume also rose by 69.9% and 14.8% to 332,040 and 4.7 million tonnes respectively. The AA is confident that by the end of 2024, the airport's passenger capacity during the peak travel period will be restored to the pre-epidemic level.
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