Courtesy of HKIA
Travel demand stayed flat to none as the Airport Authority Hong Kong’s latest traffic figures for Hong Kong International Airport (HKIA) recorded a whopping 98.6 percent and 72.0 percent drop year on year for the month of August.
Cargo volume in August remained steady at 374,000 tonnes, sliding 3.5 percent from last year, whilst freighter flights saw 21.5 percent uptick to 5,960, up from the same period of last year’s 4,906.
Cargo trans–shipments slowed down due to shortage of belly capacity on passenger flights, as exports and imports inched up 8 percent and 4 percent from the same month last year.
“Overall cargo throughput to and from Southeast Asia and Mainland China experienced the most significant decreases during the month,” the report read.
From the start of the year, flight movements were down more than 60 percent and passenger demand down 83.2 percent compared to last year. Cargo throughput saw a decrease of 9.0 percent to 2.8 million tonnes.
On a 12-month rolling basis, passenger throughput and flight movements collapsed 60.6 percent and 42.0% year-on-year, and cargo throughput down 7.1 percent from the same period last year.
Whilst Hong Kong’s foreign entry and immigration restrictions remain, HKIA moved the Department of Health’s Temporary Specimen Collection Centre (TSCC) from AsiaWorld-Expo to the Midfield Concourse (MFC) in the airport’s restricted area starting 18 August.
Vivian Cheung, executive director, airport operations at the AA, said, “The TSCC has been operating smoothly at the MFC since its relocation. To ensure safety and prevent the spread of infection at HKIA, we have been working with the Government to implement a series of measures to separate airport staff and arriving persons. The AA has also installed an additional disinfection channel dedicated for staff members working at the TSCC, further strengthening our efforts to maintain a safe environment at HKIA.”
