Hong Kong Airport Reports 109.4% Increase in Passengers; Cargo Down Slightly

(17 May 2022, 09:39 +07)  Hong Kong International Airport (HKIA) handled 126,000 passengers in April 2022, a year-on-year increase of 109.4%, although still significantly lower than the pre-pandemic levels in 2019.

The Hong Kong government lifted restrictions on arrival flights from nine countries on 1 April. A total of 1,185 flights carrying passengers operated at HKIA in April, while 1,050 flights was recorded in March. During the month, passenger traffic to and from Southeast Asia experienced the most significant increases.

Cargo throughput and flight movements at the airport recorded during the month were 375,000 tonnes and 10,320, respectively, decreases of 2.8% and 0.6% compared to April 2021.

Cathay Pacific B747F taking off from HKIA. Picture by Steven Howard of TravelNewsAsia.com

The decline in cargo throughput was mainly attributed to 6% year-on-year decreases in both imports and exports, due to insufficient cargo capacity. The overall cargo to and from Europe experienced the most significant decreases during the month.

Over the first four months of the year, passenger volume increased by 59% to 377,000 while cargo throughput and flight movements dropped by 7.6% and 0.9% to 1.4 million tonnes and 40,535, respectively.

On a 12-month rolling basis, passenger and cargo volume increased by 72.5% and 5.7% to 1.5 million and 4.9 million tonnes, respectively. Flight movements rose by 12.2% to 144,450.

HKIA Wins Green Airports Recognition 2022 Platinum Award

The airport's hard work in sustainable operations was recognised with the Green Airports Recognition 2022 Platinum award in the “over 50 million passengers per annum” category for its Weather Forecast for Air conditioning Control System (Weather FACTS), a predictive control model for air conditioning at HKIA with the use of big data analytics on real-time data at airport and weather data from the Hong Kong Observatory.

Presented by Airports Council International Asia-Pacific, the awards recognise Asia-Pacific airports for outstanding achievements in carbon management and exceptional best practices in decarbonisation.

Weather FACTS and another energy-saving project, the High Voltage Battery Energy Storage System (BESS), also received Asia-Pacific Innovation Awards from the International Facility Management Association.

Ricky Leung, Executive Director, Engineering & Technology of Airport Authority Hong Kong, said, “It is an honour to receive these prestigious awards, which recognise our dedicated efforts in applying innovative technologies to enhance HKIA’s carbon efficiency. The success of Weather FACTS and BESS demonstrates our leading position among Asia-Pacific airports in delivering exemplary environmental management performance. We will continue to work closely with our business partners to adopt energy efficiency strategies and measures as part of our commitments to achieve sustainable airport operation.”