Hong Kong enjoys strong traffic growth in March

Hong Kong International Airport handled 4.36 million passengers and 29,840 flight movements in March, increases of 56.7% and 48.2% respectively on the same month a year ago.

Partly driven by the long Easter holidays starting at the end of March, all passenger segments saw growth, with Airport Authority Hong Kong reporting that traffic to and from Southeast Asia, Mainland China and Japan recorded “the most significant increases” during the month.

Cargo throughput registered a year-on-year increase of 15.1% to 428,000 tonnes in March.

The results mean that HKG has now posted double-digit year-on-year growth in cargo each month in 2024, on the back of another successful year in 2023 for which Hong Kong was once again named as the busiest cargo airport in the world by Airports Council International.

Export traffic was again the main driver in March, recording a 23.7% increase compared to the same month last year. Among key trading regions, cargo traffic to and from North America, Europe and the Middle East rose most significantly during the month.

For the first quarter of the year, the airport handled 12.7 million passengers, marking an increase of 81.7% compared to the low base during the same period in 2023.

Flight movements registered a year-on-year increase of 63.7% to 86,210. Cargo volume rose by 18.9% year-on-year to more than 1.1 million tonnes.

On a 12-month rolling basis, passenger volumes reached 45.2 million, or 264.5% higher than the previous comparable period.

Aircraft movements and cargo throughput saw year-on-year increases of 92.1% and 9.1% to 309,650 and 4.5 million tonnes, respectively.