Air traffic at Hong Kong International Airport (HKIA) further stabilised in July, with year-on-year drops in passenger throughput, cargo tonnage and air traffic movements narrowing from the previous month.

For the first seven months of the year, HKIA's passenger traffic was down by 8.4% to 26.4m and on a rolling 12-month basis, the airport handled 46.2m passenger trips – a comparative year-on-year decline of 6.7%.

On the passenger side, Hong Kong residents showed a yearly growth of around 3%, while visitors declined by around 17% and transfer/transit passengers dipped by approximately 10%. Key visitor markets impacted included South East Asia, Chinese Mainland, Taiwan, North America and Japan.

Cargo traffic saw an improvement from the double-digit plunges that had been recorded since November 2008. During July, the airport handled a total of 291,000 tonnes of cargo, 4m passenger trips and 23,315 air traffic movements, representing year-on-year decreases of 8.3%, 9.5%, and 9.9%, respectively.

While the volume of cargo exports declined by approximately 13% year on year, imports and trans-shipments showed a low single-digit decrease as compared to same period last year. Key export markets experiencing double-digit drops included Europe, North America, South East Asia and Japan.

Stanley Hui Hon-chung, Ceo of the Airport Authority Hong Kong, said the public's receding concern over Influenza A (H1N1) and the summer travel peak were the two major reasons behind last month's comparatively better performance in passenger traffic.

He added: ‘The latest figures indicate that the downward momentum may have slowed. While we believe air traffic figures will see milder drops in the months ahead, it will take some time before overall traffic performance returns to pre-crisis levels. The business climate is still challenging as economic activities remain low and this coupled with the difficult operating environment for the aviation industry would [will] continue to affect the pace of recovery.’