Recovery of Hong Kong aviation sector ‘stronger than expected’, IATA chief says, pointing to Greater Bay Area initiatives
- IATA chief Willie Walsh says aviation sector is making ‘considerable progress’, hails initiatives to boost traffic into city and Greater Bay Area
- Measures to strengthen cooperation between Hong Kong, Greater Bay Area include connecting passengers in Macau to airport by bus via the mega bridge
The Hong Kong aviation sector’s recovery is proving “stronger than expected” and is being driven by initiatives to boost traffic into the city and Greater Bay Area, the head of an international airline trade body has said, with the industry globally expected to post a US$23.3 billion profit this year.
Willie Walsh, director general of the International Air Transport Association (IATA), on Wednesday said Hong Kong was making “considerable progress” as the sector recovered to pre-pandemic levels.
“Hong Kong is proving stronger than expected. I think it’s the whole emphasis on – not just on Hong Kong – but on the Greater Bay Area, [and] the initiatives they have there to attract traffic into the region and into Hong Kong,” he said at IATA’s headquarters in Geneva.
The “Greater Bay Area” refers to the Chinese government’s scheme to link the cities of Hong Kong, Macau, Guangzhou, Shenzhen, Zhuhai, Foshan, Zhongshan, Dongguan, Huizhou, Jiangmen and Zhaoqing into an integrated economic and business hub.
The city has implemented measures to strengthen cooperation for both cargo and passengers between Hong Kong and the Greater Bay Area.
They include one launched in August connecting passengers in Macau to the airport’s restricted area directly by bus via the Hong Kong–Zhuhai–Macau Bridge.
In July, IATA revised its own projection for Hong Kong’s aviation recovery and forecast the city would reach pre-pandemic passenger levels by the end of 2024, three years earlier than previously predicted.
