Hong Kong International Airport (HKIA) saw continued growth in passenger throughput and flight movements in February 2019 as the airport handled 5.89 million passengers and saw 32,430 flight movements – marking year-on-year (YOY) increases of 1.1 per cent and 0.3 per cent, respectively.
Over the first two months of the year, HKIA handled 12.4 million passengers and 68,960 flight movements, representing YOY increases of 3.6 per cent and 0.9 per cent, respectively.
Passenger volume during January and February 2019 was mainly driven by seven per cent YOY growth in transit traffic. Japan and Southeast Asia recorded the most significant traffic increases over the first two months of the year.
On a 12-month rolling basis, HKIA handled 75.1 million passengers and 428,365 flight movements, representing increases of 2.7 per cent and 1.4 per cent over the same period last year.
Meanwhile in Belgium, Brussels Airport has reported its February figures were severely impacted by national strike as 1.6 million passengers came through the airport – a slight 0.5 per cent decrease on the same month last year.
This decrease was put down to the national strike which took place on 13 February, which made air traffic in Belgium impossible for 24 hours. Had it not been for this strike action, February would have seen an increase in traffic as it lost an estimated 60,000 passengers as a result of the strike.
Originating passenger numbers fell by 0.7 per cent compared with February 2018. Despite the strike, transit passenger numbers increased by 1.5 per cent.
The long-haul segment recorded a three per cent increase thanks to the new routes launched in 2018. However, growth remains significantly below that of previous months as a result of the national strike.
In the short-haul segment, the airlines seeing the largest increase in passenger numbers were Iberia, Aeroflot, Air Europa, Aegean and Air France.
