Some 634 flight movements are expected at the airport on October 1, the first day of the National Day Golden Week holiday. It is a 16% rise over the current daily rate.

The Civil Aviation Department said the anticipated surge is due to more individual Mainland travellers coming to Hong Kong, and locals heading abroad.

As at today, eight airlines have submitted slot requests to operate 88 additional scheduled and ad-hoc charter flights (a total of 176 flight movements) from tomorrow to October 7, with most applications falling between October 1 and 5.

All requests received so far have been accepted.

Among the additional flights, 65% will operate to and from Mainland destinations, while 27% and 8% will be between Hong Kong and Southeast Asia and Northeast Asia respectively.

The majority of the extra services are flights between Shanghai and Hong Kong, accounting for almost 60% of the total. Phuket and Bangkok in Thailand are also among the more popular destinations from Hong Kong for the period.

At present, there are an average of 545 daily flight movements at the airport. The figure represents more than 90% of pre-SARS level.

Last year, 36 additional scheduled and ad-hoc charter flights (a total of 72 flight movements) were operated around the Golden Week period (September 22 to October 7, 2002), with Guilin, Taipei and Sapporo being the most preferred destinations.