Hong Kong International Airport's fourth-quarter traffic figures reveal a slight improvement, although total traffic for 2009 remained down on the previous year.
The fourth-quarter results reveal that passenger traffic declined by just -0.2% on the previous quarter, while air traffic movements fell by -5.1% and cargo tonnage posted an increase of 16.2%.
The year-on-year figures for 2009 reveal that passenger traffic fell by -5.0% to 46.1 million, cargo volume decreased by -7.7% to 3.35 million tons and aircraft movements dropped by -7.2% to 279,505.
The falls were partly attributed to the global financial crisis, the outbreak of the H1N1 virus and volatile fuel prices.
In December 2009, there was a surge in cargo volume to 330,000t, a 35.5% increase when compared with 2008.
The rise was due to a recovery in foreign trade between China and Western economies.
Air traffic movements reached 24,225, representing a year-on-year drop of 2.1%.
