Hong Kong International Airport (HKIA) handled 576,000 passengers and 12,115 flight movements in March 2020, a year-on-year decrease of 91 per cent and 67 per cent, respectively. Cargo throughput dropped 12.4 per cent to 378,000 tonnes when compared to the same month last year.
As countries and regions worldwide continued to impose immigration restrictions and implement quarantine measures, a sharp decline of passenger traffic was recorded in March. Locally, starting from March 25, all transit and transfer services at HKIA have been suspended, and all non-Hong Kong residents coming from overseas countries and regions by plane are denied entry to Hong Kong. All these factors led to a very weak travel demand in March, and airlines have suspended more flights. Visitor traffic, which was impacted the most, experienced 97 per cent year-on-year decrease. Transfer / transit traffic and Hong Kong resident travel also declined by 91 per cent and 83 per cent, respectively.
On the cargo front, amongst the key trading regions, traffic to and from Southeast Asia and Europe decreased most significantly in March. The decline in cargo throughput was mainly attributed to 42 per cent decrease in transshipments. Exports was stable while imports grew slightly by one per cent year-on-year.
Vivian Cheung, Executive Director, Airport Operations of the Airport Authority, said, “The whole airport community is encountering unprecedented hardship amid the COVID19 pandemic. In addition to assisting in the implementation of quarantine measures by the Department of Health, our airport staff have been working diligently to ensure the protection against the virus at HKIA. I would like to express my appreciation of their professionalism, dedication and endurance. Members of the airport community shall continue to work closely during this very challenging time and tide over the difficulties together.”
Over the first quarter the year, HKIA handled 8.2 million passengers and 63,345 flight movements, representing year-on-year decreases of 56.5 per cent and 40.1 per cent, respectively. Cargo throughput fell 10.9% to 988,000 tonnes compared to the same period last year.
On a 12-month rolling basis, passenger volume and flight movements respectively dropped 18.9 per cent and 12.0 per cent to 60.9 million and 377,420. Cargo throughput decreased by 7.3 per cent to 4.7 million tonnes.
