HKIA's passenger trips up 1.3% in September

Cargo volume also increased 6.8%.

That translates into 4.4 million passengers and 347,000 tonnes in September. Air traffic movements, on the other hand, grew 4.1% to 28,850.

HKIA said the growth in passenger traffic was driven mainly by more travel among Hong Kong residents, which rose 11% over the same month last year. Passenger traffic to and from the Mainland and Taiwan improved noticeably.

The growth in cargo was due mostly to a 7% year-on-year growth in exports. Cargo throughput to and from North America and Southeast Asia outperformed other key regions.

It also noted that airport operations were smooth and efficient during the busy National Day Golden Week at the start of October. Cross-boundary coaches and limousines carried nearly 8,500 passengers from the airport to the Mainland on October 7, a new daily record.

Some 10,000 travellers took the SkyPier ferries between the airport and the Pearl River Delta or Macau on October 1.

In the first three quarters of the year, HKIA recorded 42 million passenger trips, 2.9 million tonnes of cargo and 261,110 flight movements, representing year-on-year increases of 5.1%, 0.9% and 5.3%.