HKIA Records Significant Increase in Passenger Throughput in February

(Hong Kong, 26 March 2023, 1000hrs) – Airport Authority Hong Kong (AAHK) today announced the air traffic figures of Hong Kong International Airport (HKIA) for February 2023. During the month, HKIA handled 2.1 million passengers, marking a year-on-year surge of approximately 24 times. Cargo volume and flight movements saw year-on-year increases of 6.7% and 95.7% to 290,000 tonnes and 16,305, respectively.

Due to the relaxation of travel restrictions, all passenger segments experienced significant growths, particularly Hong Kong residents, compared to the same month last year. Traffic to and from Southeast Asia and Japan recorded the most significant increases.

Global economic uncertainties continued to cause impact on cargo volume. The year-on-year increase in cargo volume during the month was mainly attributed to a low base for comparison with that February 2022. Transshipments and exports increased by 46% and 3% year-on-year respectively. The Middle East, Mainland China and North America saw the most significant growth in terms of cargo volume.

Over the first two months of the year, the airport handled 4.2 million passengers, marking an increase of around 26 times compared to the same period in 2022. Flight movements registered year-on-year increase by about 60% to 32,520, while cargo volume dropped by 12.8% to 578,000 tonnes.

On a 12-month rolling basis, passenger volume increased year on year by around six times to 9.7 million, while flight movements raised 3.9% to 150,895. Cargo throughput saw a decline of 17.2% to 4.1 million tonnes.

Flight movements and passenger volume have been going up as flights on more routes continued to resume in recent months. On March 26, direct flights between HKIA and Shanghai Hongqiao International Airport have resumed, with three daily flights to Hongqiao initially. Hongqiao Airport had suspended all international inbound and outbound flights since March 2020 for epidemic control. HKIA has a close partnership with Hongqiao Airport. Since 2009, a joint venture between AAHK and the Shanghai Airport Authority has managed the terminal operations and retail businesses at Hongqiao Airport.

Meanwhile, AAHK has been included in Sustainalytics’ “2023 Top-Rated ESG Companies List” for its outstanding environmental, social and governance (ESG) performance. Sustainalytics, an independent ESG research and ratings firm, identifies the top performers globally based on its ESG Risk Ratings - which cover more than 15,000 companies across various industries - and has recognised AAHK as one of the top 50 companies in the “Regional Top-Rated” category.

Julian Lee, Executive Director, Finance of the AAHK, said, “We are honoured to receive the recognition, which underscores our tireless efforts to achieve sustainability goals. Apart from integrating ESG considerations at all levels of our operations, AAHK is also a pioneer of green finance. Our Sustainable Finance Framework and green bonds issuance demonstrated our commitment to developing HKIA into one of the world’s greenest airports. We will continue to work with our business partners to contribute to the sustainable development of the region.”

To download the traffic statistics, please go to:

http://www.hongkongairport.com//iwov-resources/file/media-centre/press-release/Feb2023e.pdf