Hong Kong International Airport received the Gold Recognition for its outstanding achievement in improving local air quality at the ACI’s Asia-Pacific Green Airports Recognition programme.

The airport authority won for a scheme, started in 2018, that allows ramp handlers to rent electric-powered ground services equipment (GSE) at the midfield apron instead of deploying their own diesel-powered equipment.

Under a pooling scheme, ramp handling operators can opt to use the airport’s equipment at every parking stand, of which 95 percent are electric powered, reducing carbon emissions and saving energy.

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“We are honoured to receive this recognition from ACI, which reflects the AA’s dedication to reduce HKIA’s environmental impact and make it one of the world’s greenest airports,” said Steven Yiu, deputy director for service delivery of the Airport Authority Hong Kong.

Yiu added that the next phase will go beyond the midfield to cover parking stands at terminal 1 and the future terminal 2 concourse. HKIA currently provides 43 parking stands for cargo aircraft.

For the month of May, Hong Kong saw more volume in and out of Southeast Asia and India, with cargo throughput up 7.3 percent compared to the same month last year, based on data released by the airport authority.

Hong Kong handled around 405,000 tonnes in May, thanks to inbound shipments, which saw double-digit growth against the same period a year earlier. For the first five months, cargo volume rose 12.2 percent to 1.9 million tonnes. On a 12-month rolling basis numbers inched up 1.5 percent to 4.7 million tonnes.

Looking back at last year’s passenger numbers, Hong Kong’s passenger traffic jumped 57.7 percent to 59,000, whilst flight movements dropped 4.3 percent to 10,875. However, this increase can be mainly attributed to the low base of comparison and passenger numbers are still way below the pre-Covid level in 2019.