HONG KONG International Airport (HKIA) has posted 8.2 per cent decline in air cargo throughput in October year on year to 342,000 tonnes, the airport authority announced.

    During the first 10 months of the year, HKIA processed 3.3 million tonnes of cargo, down 4.4 per cent. On a rolling 12-month basis, cargo volume recorded four million tonnes, a decrease of 2.3 per cent, said the authority statement.

    The cargo decline was attributed to the eight per cent year-on-year drop in exports. Imports decreased eight and transshipments fell 10 per cent compared to October 2010. Europe, North America, mainland China and Taiwan all experienced double-digit year-on-year declines in cargo.

    But passenger volume continued to grow in October. The airport handled 4.6 million passenger trips, up 5.9 per cent as well as a five per cent increase in aircraft movements to 28,545 year on year.

    Airport Authority Hong Kong (AAHK) chief executive Stanley Hui Hon-chung said the growth in passengers and aircraft movements was stable, while declining trade in US and European markets amid their economic situations - as well as Thailand where flooding impacted cargo performance.

    "While HKIA's cargo performance is consistent with the worldwide negative growth trend, I'm pleased to see passenger volume and aircraft movements continue to rise," he said, adding that passenger growth was attributed to robust visitor traffic to Hong Kong, which was up seven per cent year on year.

(Source:http://www.shippingonline.cn/news/newsList.asp?classname=News)