Chinese People Say "Let's Go to Hong Kong"... International Airport Passengers Surge 24 Times

The number of passengers using Hong Kong International Airport surged after the lifting of COVID-19 lockdown measures.

On the 27th, Bloomberg reported, citing the Hong Kong Airport Authority, that the number of passengers at Hong Kong International Airport last month reached 2.1 million, a 24-fold increase compared to the same period a year ago. Cargo volume increased by 6.7% to 290,000 tons, and the number of aircraft operations rose by 95.7% to 16,305 flights.

The Hong Kong Airport Authority explained, "With the easing of travel restrictions, there has been significant growth across all passenger segments, especially among Hong Kong residents," adding, "Passenger demand for routes to and from Southeast Asia and Japan recorded a historic increase." They further noted, "As air routes have continued to resume over the past few months, both flight movements and passenger numbers have increased."

Hong Kong lifted restrictions on overseas arrivals in December last year. In early February this year, unrestricted travel with mainland China was fully resumed.

Transshipment cargo volume increased by 46% year-on-year, and exports rose by 3% during the same period. Notably, cargo volumes to and from the Middle East, mainland China, and North America saw the largest increases.

In China, which shifted to a 'With COVID-19' policy at the end of last year, demand for flights has also increased significantly. Accordingly, China has decided to substantially increase domestic and international flight operations starting from the 26th of this month.

The Civil Aviation Administration of China recently announced its flight operation plan from late March to late October, stating that international scheduled flights will increase to 6,772 flights per week, and domestic flights to 96,561 flights per week. Including cargo flights, the total number of international flights will rise to 14,702 per week.

Previously, after the outbreak of COVID-19, China had reduced international flights to about 300 per week through strict lockdown measures. Following the lifting of COVID-19 restrictions, last month passenger flights were increased to 795 weekly flights to 58 countries, and there are plans to expand this further.