Summary
- Hong Kong International Airport saw a 66% recovery in passenger numbers from August 2019.
- While there has been significant growth in passenger flight movements and cargo throughput, the increase in passenger numbers from July to August was only 5%, indicating a slow recovery.
Hong Kong International Airport released its August operating statistics today, and they show an airport fighting its way back after four years of disruptions but with an uphill battle still ahead to reach full recovery.
Most airports and airlines are compared to pre-pandemic 2019 levels, but by August 2019, Hong Kong International was already facing enormous problems from public demonstrations and protests in its terminals.
Starting to get on the road toward full recovery
Today’s figures show that during August, 4.0 million passengers passed through Hong Kong International Airport (HKIA), compared to 480,000 in August 2022. This was up by 5% compared to July, and the daily average passenger number reached 130,000, a 66% recovery from August 2019.
Photo: Wangkun Jia / Shutterstock
In pre-pandemic August 2019, HKIA handled 6.0 million passengers, close to one million less than in August 2018. In its August 2019 summary, HKIA attributed that drop to a decrease in visitor traffic to and from Mainland China, Southeast Asia and Taiwan, commenting that “public assemblies disrupted airport and flight operations at the airport on a number of days.”
If the proper comparison is to the 6.85 million handled in August 2018, then the airport is now at 58% recovery or when compared to the already disrupted 2019 level, it is at 66%. Either way, it still has a heavy road to travel to get back to where it was and with traffic only increasing by 5% from July, it doesn’t seem like a meteoric jump is on the cards.
Passenger aircraft movements reached 18,410 last month compared to 5,088 in August 2022 and 30,175 in 2019. It’s interesting to note that while passenger flight movements increased 3.6 times, the passenger numbers climbed 8.3 times compared to August 2022.
The most significant gains came from increased traffic to and from Southeast Asia, Mainland China and Japan and cargo throughput increased by 8.5% year-on-year due to rapid export growth.
Photo: EQRoy | Shutterstock
Between January and August this year, HKIA handled 24.4 million passengers, which is more than 13 times higher than for the same period last year. On a rolling 12-month basis, passenger volume increased to 28.3 million, an 11-fold year-on-year increase, while flight movements jumped by 55.7% to 221,585.
It’s not only about the numbers
Hong Kong Airport also announced today it was voted ‘Asia’s Leading Airport 2023’ and ‘China’s Leading Airport 2023″‘ in the 30th World Travel Awards. Chief operating officer of Airport Authority Hong Kong (AAHK), Vivian Cheung, said the airport is honoured to be named ‘Asia’s Leading Airport’ and China’s Leading Airport’ in this year’s awards.
“We have introduced an array of new facilities, services and technologies to give passengers a brand new airport experience. It is most encouraging to learn that travellers and industry experts from around the world acknowledge and appreciate our efforts through their votes.”
World Travel Award winners are selected by travel industry specialists and passengers from around the world. Hong Kong Airport won Asia’s Leading Airport award in 2020 and 2021 and ‘China’s Leading Airport award for the second year in a row.