July saw a year on year cargo throughput drop for Hong Kong International Airport of 1.9 per cent to 363,000 tonnes.
The airport blames the decline on a five per cent year on year (YOY) drop in transshipments. It says that exports declined by one per cent compared to the same month last year. During July, cargo throughput to and from mainland China, Taiwan and Europe also, “underperformed other key regions”. The July fall followed a June drop, when cargo volumes decreased by 3.5 per cent to 349,000 tonnes. That month’s outcome continued the gateway’s trend this year of monthly declines and is the fourth year on year (YOY) monthly fall in 2015.
At the time, the airport’s authority explained that the cargo traffic in June was suppressed by the weak Eurozone economy along with a slowdown in Asia Pacific imports and exports. May has also seen less cargo, a slip of 0.3 per cent, according to the Airports Council International (ACI) Asia Pacific.
However, comparing the January to July period this year and in 2014, Hong Kong saw 0.2 per cent more cargo, at 2.4 million tonnes. On a rolling 12-month basis, the airport has handled 4.3 million tonnes, a YOY increase of 2.4 per cent.
In a more positive move, in July, the airport welcomed Sky Lease Cargo. It began operating scheduled cargo flights to Miami (US) twice a week with its Boeing 747 Freighter from 16 July.
