HONG KONG – Hong Kong International Airport handled 4.46 million passengers in March, up 56.7 percent from the same period last year, the Airport Authority Hong Kong said on Tuesday.

The airport also recorded 29,840 flight movements, representing a 48.2 percent year-on-year increase, the AAHK added.

Partly driven by the long Easter holidays at the end of March, all passenger segments saw growth, with traffic to and from Southeast Asia, the Chinese mainland and Japan recording the most significant increases

Partly driven by the long Easter holidays at the end of March, all passenger segments saw growth, with traffic to and from Southeast Asia, the Chinese mainland and Japan recording the most significant increases.

Cargo throughput registered a year-on-year increase of 15.1 percent to 428,000 tonnes in March, the AAHK added.

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It said the airport has now posted double-digit year-on-year growth in cargo each month since January, on the back of another successful year in 2023 for which HKIA was once again named the busiest cargo airport in the world by Airports Council International.

Export traffic was again the main driver in March, recording a 23.7 percent increase compared to the same month last year, the AAHK said

Among key trading regions, cargo traffic to and from North America, Europe and the Middle East rose most significantly last month, it added.

For the first quarter of the year, the airport handled 12.7 million passengers, marking an 81.7 percent increase compared to the low base during the same period last year.

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Flight movements registered a year-on-year increase of 63.7 percent to 86,210 while cargo volume rose by 18.9 percent year-on-year to more than 1.1 million tonnes during the same period.

On a 12-month rolling basis, passenger volume reached 45.2 million, or 264.5 percent higher than the previous comparable period. Flight movements and cargo throughput saw year-on-year increases of 92.1 percent and 9.1 percent to 309,650 and 4.5 million tonnes, respectively.