HK airport's cargo traffic down 6.6 pct in November

Cargo traffic at Hong Kong International Airport (HKIA) declined 6.6 percent to 343,000 tones in November, due to the 10 percent year-on-year drop in exports, the local Airport Authority said on Sunday. Passenger traffic and aircraft movements at HKIA continued a trend of steady growth in November as HKIA handled 4.3 million passengers and 27,865 aircraft movements, 4.7 percent and 4.2 percent more than the corresponding figures a year ago respectively. The growth in passenger volume was driven primarily by visitor traffic, which registered an increase of 7 percent over the same month last year, said the authority, adding that passenger traffic to and from the Chinese Mainland performed particularly well. Over the first 11 months of this year, HKIA recorded 5.7 percent and 9.2 percent year-on-year growth in passenger volume and aircraft movements, reaching 49.1 million and 304,450 respectively. Airfreight handling declined 4.6 percent to 3.6 million tones during the period.