Hong Kong International Airport saw a 7% increase in passenger throughput in May from a year earlier, to 3.5 million, aided by a surge of Mainland visitors during the Labour Day golden week.

Boosted by the busy traffic, aircraft movements grew  7.4% year-on-year, to 23,260 flights over the month.

May also saw a steady growth of cargo throughput to 283,000 tonnes, representing 4.5%  increase compared to the same month last year.

Airport Authority Hong Kong Airport Management Director Howard Eng said the passenger volume from January to May reached 17.7 million - a double-digit increase from a year earlier.

Continuous traffic growth

The continuous growth in passenger traffic was mainly driven by the steady growth of visitors from the US, Europe, Southeast Asia and the Mainland.

"As summer holidays are approaching, we remain positive about passenger traffic," he added.

Passenger throughput for the past 12 months increased 8.4% to 42.3 million while cargo volume reached 3.5 million tonnes, up 8.9% from a year earlier. Aircraft movements increased 11.3% to 274,000 flights.