HKIA Releases Air Traffic Figures for January and AAHK clinches Hong Kong Sustainability Award 2020/21

Airport Authority Hong Kong (AAHK) today released the traffic figures of Hong Kong International Airport (HKIA) for January 2022. During the month, HKIA handled 71,000 passengers and 391,000 tonnes of cargo, representing year-on-year decreases of 0.1% and 4.7%, respectively. Flight movements saw year-on-year growth of 5.5% to 12,010, with freighter movements increasing by 14.1% to 7,165 from the 6,278 recorded in the same month last year.

Cargo throughput declined due to flight reductions amid the worldwide emergence of the Omicron variant of COVID-19. Transshipments were affected most significantly, declining by double digits year on year, although exports saw 4.2% growth compared to January 2021. Overall cargo to and from North America experienced the most significant decrease during the month.

Passenger volume remained significantly lower than the pre-pandemic level recorded in 2019. Tightened entry restrictions led to a decline in transfer/ transit passengers in January 2022 compared to the same month last year, while departure passengers to Southeast Asia and arrival passengers from the Mainland experienced the most significant increases during the month. 

On a 12-month rolling basis, passenger volume fell by 57.6% to 1.4 million, while cargo throughput and flight movements rose by 10.8% and 4.8% to 5.0 million and 145,450, respectively.

Meanwhile, AAHK won the “Hong Kong Sustainability Award 2020/21” presented by the Hong Kong Management Association. The award aims to raise awareness of the importance of sustainability in the business community and recognise best practices. AAHK achieved distinctive results across key sustainability aspects such as management commitment and stakeholder engagement, environmental management measures and implementation, response to COVID-19, and corporate governance.

Peter Lee, General Manager, Sustainability of AAHK, said, “We are honoured to receive the award, which demonstrates our continuous efforts to drive sustainable growth at HKIA. We spare no effort to ensure that our airport operations and expansion works are performed at a level beyond environmental compliance. This is a collaborative achievement, as we could not do it without the support of the wider airport community. We will continue to work with our stakeholders to realise our goal of becoming one of the greenest airports in the world.”