Hong Kong’s airport logs post-Covid record passenger numbers over festive season
- Official figures show 4.3 million passengers used city’s airport last month, 75 per cent of number recorded in same month of pre-pandemic 2019
- But analysts say staff shortages and slower-than-expected outbound demand from mainland China remain worry and could slow sector recovery
Hong Kong’s air passenger traffic figures climbed to 75 per cent of pre-pandemic levels last month, but staff shortages and slower-than-expected recovery of outbound demand from mainland China remain a concern for a full recovery this year, analysts have said.
The Airport Authority reported on Monday that a year high of 4.3 million passengers passed through the airport in December – 75 per cent of the figure for the same month in 2019, before Covid-19 hit.
The authority said that daily passenger volumes and flights had recovered to 80 per cent of pre-pandemic levels over the Christmas peak. Traffic to and from Southeast Asia, the mainland and Taiwan logged the biggest increases.
“Air traffic at Hong Kong International Airport continued to recover in 2023,” the authority said.
The airport handled 40 million passengers over the whole of last year, 56 per cent of pre-pandemic levels. There were 71.5 million passengers in 2019.
