Hong Kong International Airport sets new daily record for flight movements

The Hong Kong International Airport (HKIA) registered a new single-day record of 971 flight movements on 31 March, even as flight movements were up by 15.5 per cent to a monthly high of 28,140.

HKIA also handled a total of 4.2 million passengers and 369,000 tonnes of cargo in the same month, representing increases of 1.8 per cent and 6.2 per cent respectively over the same period last year.

The growth in passenger traffic was mainly driven by Hong Kong residents themselves, marking an increase of six per cent over the same period last year. Passenger traffic to/from south east Asia and Mainland China also did well.

Stanley Hui Hon-chung, CEO of Airport Authority Hong Kong, said the strong increase in flight movements was because of an increased number of flights encouraged by the regions robust economy.

In the immediate aftermath of the recent earthquake and nuclear crisis in Japan airlines have rapidly reduced flights to Japan.

"Airlines around the world will continue to reduce flights to Japan until the nuclear threat is cleared. In the case of Hong Kong-based airlines, we have seen capacity being redeployed from Japan to other destinations in the region, which is why we continue to see reasonable increase in flight movements at HKIA.