Hong Kong already tops pre-pandemic cargo volumes
Hong Kong's Airport Authority has published Hong Kong International Airport's air traffic figures for 2021. The airport showed a resilient cargo performance, rising by 12.5% year on year to 5.027 million t and exceeding the 4.8 million t recorded in 2019, the year before the outbreak of Covid-19.
The number of cargo flights surged to an all-time record of 82,935, a yoy increase of 19.8%. Monthly cargo throughput also reached a new monthly high in November 2021 (478,000 t). The strong momentum of peak cargo demand in November 2021 carried into December (477,000 t, +8.6%) despite flight reductions due to the emergence of the Omicron variant.
The growth in monthly cargo throughput was mainly attributed to 18% yoy increase in transhipments. Imports and exports both rose by 7%, with cargo to and from Southeast Asia posting the most significant increases. (ah)