A record high number of flight movements at the Hong Kong International Airport is expected on February 9, Lunar New Year's Day, when 762 aircraft are scheduled to arrive and depart, the Civil Aviation Department says.

The department also expected that the second-highest record will be made on Sunday, February 13, the fifth day of the Lunar New Year, when 752 aircraft are scheduled to arrive and depart.

The number of flight movements expected on the Lunar New Year's Day represents an increase of about 13% when compared with an average of 675 movements a day.

15 airlines asked to operate additional flights

As of today, 15 airlines had submitted slot requests to operate 338 additional scheduled and ad-hoc charter flights from February 4 to February 20, bringing the total number of flight movements to 676. 

Most applications are for the period from February 9 and February 13. All requests received so far have been accepted.

Airlines that have already submitted requests plan to operate flights to 14 destinations on the Mainland, 14 destinations in Northeast Asia, eight destinations in Southeast Asia, and one destination in New Zealand. Taipei is the most popular destination, followed by Seoul, Sapporo, Kunming and Shanghai.

Runway capacity to be increased

The department said the runway capacity during the holiday period will be increased from 50 to 52 flight movements per hour to cope with the extra traffic.