OREANDA-NEWS. Hong Kong International Airport (HKIA) recorded growth in all three traffic categories in September. Monthly passenger figures climbed 4.8% from the previous year to 5 million, while cargo volume registered 5.2% year-on-year growth to 364,000 tonnes. Flight movements also rose by 5.1% to 31,995 in the same period.

The growth in passenger traffic in September was mainly driven by an 8% year-on-year growth in Hong Kong resident traffic. Passenger traffic to/from North Asia and North America recorded the most significant increases.

The growth in cargo throughput last month was driven mainly by transshipments, which were up 18% from a year ago. During the month, cargo throughput to/from Southeast Asia and North America increased most significantly compared to other key regions.

Fred Lam, Chief Executive Officer of Airport Authority Hong Kong, said, "In addition to the growth in air traffic figures, we have seen an increase in cross-boundary traffic at HKIA during the National Day Golden Week in early October. We are delighted to have achieved new daily records of over 11,600 passengers using SkyPier ferry services and over 10,500 passengers using cross-boundary limousine and coach services to the Pearl River Delta on 1 October and 7 October, respectively."

"During the upcoming winter flight schedule, which starts at the end of the month, our airport will be handling a maximum 66 flight movements per hour and 1,110 scheduled flights daily. By then, the airport will be operating very close to its practical maximum capacity. With a concerted effort of the entire airport community, we will continue to uphold the highest levels of safety, efficiency and service quality while serving an ever-increasing volume of travellers," added Mr Lam.

For the first three quarters of 2014, HKIA handled a total of 47.2 million passenger trips, 3.2 million tonnes of cargo and 290,125 flight movements, representing year-on-year gains of 5.4%, 6.7% and 5.2%, respectively.

On a 12-month rolling basis, passenger volume rose by 5.7% from a year earlier to 62.3 million, while cargo volume rose 6.1% to 4.3 million tonnes. Flight movements also increased 5.5% year on year to 386,505.