A sharp decline in air-cargo traffic at Hong Kong International Airport reflected a troubled world economy, according to the Airport Authority.
The airport handled 317,000 metric tons of cargo in September, down 7.5 percent from September 2007, on air traffic movements that fell 0.4 percent to 24,570, the authority reported. The decline was across the board, including import, export and transshipment.
"The steep decline in traffic volumes in both passenger and air cargo clearly reflected a very troubled global economy as a result of the financial tsunami, which has affected all countries in the world," said Stanley Hui Hon-chung, CEO of the Airport Authority.
The most significant drop came on traffic with the United States and Europe, the biggest trading partners with Hong Kong and China, Hui said.
Hui predicted airlines would further scale back operations or put expansion plans on hold in the difficult operating environment. "The aviation industry is expected to face even more difficult times in the coming months," Hui said.
Hong Kong saw mild growth for the first nine months of the year, prior to the international credit crisis. Passenger volume rose 3.7 percent to 36.7 million. Cargo throughput grew 3 percent to 2.8 million tons. Air traffic movements grew 3.1 percent to 225,715.
On a rolling 12-month basis ended Sept. 30, HKIA handled 3.8 million tons of cargo, an increase of 3.9 percent, over the prior-year period. |
