Hong Kong airport passengers up 10% in January 2011

Passenger traffic at Hong Kong International Airport grew to 4.3 million in January.

According to Hong Kong Information Services Department, Cargo throughput rose 10.8% to 333,000 tonnes. Air traffic rose 16.9% to 27,410 movements.

The Airport Authority said today passenger growth was mainly driven by travel to and from Southeast Asia and the Mainland. Transfer/transit passengers rose 6%.

Cargo saw increases of 16%, 11% and 8% in transshipments, exports and imports, with North America and Europe continuing their strong momentum with double-digit growth.

The authority said more passengers are using cross-boundary sea and land transport services to and from the airport and the Pearl River Delta region, strengthening the airport as a preferred gateway to the Mainland. More than 190,000 passengers used the SkyPier service in January, up 20%. About 160,000 passengers took Mainland coaches and limousines across the border, up 40%.

A new daily record of more than 170,000 passengers was set on February 7, while February 2 to 8 saw the airport handle nearly 1.1 million passengers and more than 6,100 air-traffic movements, up 3.8% and 7.7% on the same periods last year.

In the past 12 months the airport has handled 51.3 million passengers and 4.1 million tonnes of cargo, 11.3% and 21.1% up on the previous period. Air-traffic movements also grew 11.4% to 310,500.