Exclusive | Hong Kong on track to restore passenger traffic to pre-pandemic levels by end of year, senior Airport Authority official says

‘We have confidence that passenger traffic will return to 100 per cent by the end of this year, or close to 100 per cent,’ executive director Steven Yiu says

Hong Kong International Airport handled 39.5 million passengers in 2023, or 55 per cent of the 71.5 million passengers recorded in 2019

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The Airport Authority’s Steven Yiu said the supply of flights from the city’s home carriers and the health of the local and mainland Chinese economy were factors in restoring full passenger traffic levels. Photo: Dickson Lee

Published: 7:30pm, 27 Jan 2024Updated: 7:49pm, 27 Jan 2024

A senior airport official has expressed confidence Hong Kong will restore its passenger traffic to pre-pandemic levels by the end of the year, while noting it will depend on factors such as demand from mainland China and flag carrier Cathay Pacific Airways increasing flight capacity.

Steven Yiu Siu-chung, an executive director at the Airport Authority, also told the Post that the expanded Terminal 2 would open in phases, depending on the traffic exceeding 75 million passengers – slightly above the record 74.6 million handled in 2018.

Describing the restoration of air traffic as proceeding at a “healthy pace”, Yiu said: “We have confidence that passenger traffic will return to 100 per cent by the end of this year, or close to 100 per cent.”

Hong Kong International Airport handled 39.5 million passengers in 2023, or 55 per cent of the 71.5 million passengers recorded in 2019.

Asked about the slower-than-expected recovery of outbound mainland demand, Steven Yiu said it was “one of the concerns”. Photo: Jonathan Wong

By comparison, Singapore’s Changi Airport, which fully reopened earlier than Hong Kong when the pandemic died down, reached 86 per cent of its pre-Covid levels last year.

Exclusive | Hong Kong on track to restore passenger traffic to pre-pandemic levels by end of year, senior Airport Authority official says

‘We have confidence that passenger traffic will return to 100 per cent by the end of this year, or close to 100 per cent,’ executive director Steven Yiu says Hong Kong International Airport handled 39.5 million passengers in 2023, or 55 per cent of the 71.5 million passengers recorded in 2019

‘We have confidence that passenger traffic will return to 100 per cent by the end of this year, or close to 100 per cent,’ executive director Steven Yiu says

Hong Kong International Airport handled 39.5 million passengers in 2023, or 55 per cent of the 71.5 million passengers recorded in 2019