A total of 70.5m passengers used Hong Kong International Airport (+2.9%) in 2016 where there were also 411,530 flight movements (+1.4%), while cargo volumes rose +3.2% to 4.52m tonnes.

 

Commenting on the results, Fred Lam, CEO of Airport Authority Hong Kong thanked the airport’s 73,000-plus colleagues in the airport community for their hard work to in helping HKIA achieve these numbers.

 

He said: “During the past year, HKIA also achieved new daily records in flight movements and cargo volume, reaching 1,270 flight movements and handling over 16,700 tonnes of cargo.

 

“In addition, we welcomed five new airlines, namely Austrian Airlines, Bismillah Airlines, Malindo Air, T’way Air and VietJet Air during the year. We also expanded our air network – adding eight new destinations, including Madrid, Saipan, London Gatwick, Nha Trang, Chiang Rai, Ishigaki, Takamatsu and Yonago.

 

TERMINAL 1 EXPANSION PRIORITISED

December 2016 also ended the year with flight movements reaching a new monthly record of 35,650, up 0.7%, passenger volume rising 2.8% to 6.16m, and cargo up 11.3%.

 

Hong Kong resident travel – the main growth driver – grew by 11% in December, while HKIA said passenger traffic to and from Japan and Europe registered the most significant increases.

 

Lam added: “To meet the medium and long-term growth demands of today’s aviation landscape, we are pushing forward a number of developments at HKIA, including the expansion of Terminal 1 and the Three-runway System.

 

“We are also launching the Hong Kong International Aviation Academy this year, providing various courses to nurture talent for the industry. We will continue to work closely with our business partners to maintain smooth operations and a world-class travel experience for our passengers.”