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Fifteen more scheduled passenger and cargo services will operate to and from Hong Kong on a weekly basis in the Winter Season of 2003/04 (October 26, 2003 to March 27, 2004).

Air traffic at the Hong Kong International Airport (HKIA) is back to, and has even exceeded, pre-SARS levels, the Civil Aviation Department said today (October 26).

In the new season, 128 additional scheduled passenger and cargo services are offered per week, but 113 services have been cancelled, thus making a net increase of 15. More than half of the additional passenger services operate between Hong Kong and the Mainland, notably Shanghai and Beijing. The two destinations have registered an increase of 25 and 10 weekly services respectively, taking the total frequencies to 165 and 101 per week. The surge can be largely attributed to the higher demand for air services to Hong Kong by individual Mainland travellers. With the addition of 54 services per week, the number of weekly air services between Hong Kong and the Mainland stands at more than 600, ie, over 1,200 flight movements.

Four airlines have launched new passenger services to and from Hong Kong. These involve the provision of 14 weekly services to Bangkok by Hong Kong Dragon Airlines, three weekly services to Beijing by Cathay Pacific Airways from December 2, three weekly services between Nairobi and Hong Kong via Bangkok by Kenya Airways, and a weekly service from Moscow by Transaero Airlines. Kenya Airways and Transaero Airlines are new passenger carriers serving Hong Kong, while Nairobi is a new destination.

As regards cargo services, about half of the additional services are operated to Shanghai, Singapore and Cologne. Cologne in Germany is a new destination served by cargo carrier United Parcel Service. Another new port added to the route network of HKIA is Novosibirsk; cargo services to the port are operated by Aeroflot Russian International Airlines.

A total of 69 airlines now offer scheduled passenger and cargo services from Hong Kong to about 130 destinations worldwide. With the additional number of scheduled services offered by airlines, the total number of flight movements at HKIA has increased to about 4,300 per week.

Ends/Sunday, October 26, 2003

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