OREANDA-NEWS. Hong Kong International Airport (HKIA) achieved a successful year in 2014 with all three traffic categories setting new annual records. During the year, HKIA welcomed 63.4 million passengers and handled 390,955 flight movements, representing annual growth of 5.8% and 5.1%, respectively. Cargo throughput also rose 6% year on year, reaching a record of 4.38 million tonnes.

Fred Lam, Chief Executive Officer of Airport Authority Hong Kong, said, "We are pleased to see HKIA achieving another record breaking year in 2014, which further strengthens its leading position as an international and regional aviation hub, supporting the economic growth of Hong Kong."

"We have also seen new daily records in all three traffic categories last year, reaching about 210,000 passengers, over 16,000 tonnes of cargo and 1,178 flight movements. We are very proud that HKIA is one of the very few airports in the world that ranks near the top in both passenger and cargo volumes," Mr Lam added. In 2014, HKIA also welcomed three new airlines, namely American Airlines, Siam Air and Vanilla Air, helping extend our flight network to 180 destinations around the world.

During the past year, approximately 2.76 million passengers made use of SkyPier to travel between HKIA and eight ports in the Pearl River Delta (PRD), representing yearly growth of 3.26%. Nearly two million passengers hired limousine and coach services travelling between HKIA and PRD destinations.

For December 2014, all three traffic categories experienced steady growth, with flight movements setting a new monthly record of 34,235 - beating the previous record set in August 2014 and registering 4.2% growth compared to the same month in 2013. The number of passengers reached 5.6 million, climbing 7.5% compared to December 2013; while cargo volume rose 3.1% year on year to 387,000 tonnes.

The growth in passenger traffic in December was mainly driven by a 14% year-on-year growth in Transfer/Transit traffic and an 11% growth in Hong Kong resident traffic. Passenger traffic to/from North Asia and Southeast Asia recorded the most significant increases.

The growth in cargo throughput last month was driven by transshipments, which were up 7% from a year ago. During the month, cargo throughput to/from North America and Southeast Asia increased most significantly compared to other key regions.

"Air traffic demand continues to grow, and we expect 4-6% growth in passengers, cargo volumes and flight movements this year. We will continue to enhance airport facilities and services, and work closely with HKIA's business partners to maintain a world-class travel experience for our passengers," concluded Mr Lam.