HONG KONG, CHINA. Airport Authority Hong Kong has released the latest traffic figures for Hong Kong International Airport (HKIA). They reveal that 2.8 million passengers were served in March, more than 28 times the amount recorded in the same month of 2022.
The continuing recovery saw last month’s passenger volumes reach 44% of the pre-pandemic 6.4 million recorded in March 2019. The figures augur well for a strong and sustained recovery for Hong Kong’s aviation, tourism and travel retail sectors across 2023 following nearly three years of pandemic-related restrictions.
The airport authority noted that the strong improvement reflects the removal of all travel restrictions in January. HKIA registered a notable year-on-year increase in all passenger segments in March, particularly among Hong Kong residents. The top passenger markets included Southeast Asia, Mainland China and Japan.
Flight movements in March more than doubled to 20,130 from the same period last year.
For the first three weeks of April, the airport saw a sustained increase in average daily passenger traffic, with an estimated 100,000 passengers per day, reaching 50% of pre-pandemic levels.
Over the first three months of the year, HKIA served 7 million passengers, nearly 27 times more than the same period of 2022. Flight movements reached 52,650, a year-on-year increase of +74.2%.
On a 12-month rolling basis, the airport recorded 12.4 million passengers, representing a 7.7-fold increase year-on-year. Flight movements rose by +11.5% to 161,160.
Also underlining the rebound of air travel in Hong Kong, the Special Administrative Region’s leading carrier Cathay Pacific has revealed an encouraging pace of recovery in the first three months of the year. According to its March traffic figures, it carried a total of 1,322,180 passengers, an increase of +4,217% compared with the same month in 2022, albeit against a low base.
Revenue passenger kilometres (RPKs) improved +4,828% year-on-year. Passenger load factor climbed by +44.8 percentage points to +90.4%, while capacity, measured in available seat kilometres (ASKs), also went up by +2,384% from the same period in 2022.
In the first quarter of 2023, the number of passengers jumped by +3,907% against a +2,174% increase in capacity, and a +4,432% increase in RPKs, as compared with the same period in 2022.
Commenting on the passenger figures, Cathay Pacific Chief Customer and Commercial Officer Lavinia Lau said: “The first quarter of 2023 has been one of continued improvement for our travel business as we maintain our focus on reconnecting Hong Kong with the world. Cathay Pacific’s passenger numbers continued to increase month on month in March, growing +19% to more than 1.3 million compared with February.
“We resumed services to three more destinations – Shanghai Hongqiao, Haikou and Nagoya airports in March. Hongqiao in particular saw huge demand for both business and leisure travel. Our Japan and South Korea flights benefited from good passenger traffic for the cherry blossom season and demand ahead of the Easter holiday.
“Demand between Hong Kong and Taiwan was similarly strong, including transit traffic from Taiwan to Europe and Indonesia via the Hong Kong hub.”
Lau added: “We were also delighted to bring back more customer experience highlights, with First Class returning on select flights on our Beijing and Los Angeles routes, and our airport lounges in Bangkok, Beijing and Manila also reopening, all of which were very welcomed by our customers who missed those special Cathay touches over the past three years.”
HKIA is hosting this year’s Trinity Forum (25-26 October), the world’s leading airport commercial revenues event. The conference is co-organised by The Moodie Davitt Report, Airports Council International (ACI) World and ACI Asia Pacific. ✈
