Hong Kong International Airport (HKIA) saw its cargo throughput increase by 15.5% year-on-year to 389,000 tonnes as imports continued to expand in the financial hub. 

In a statement, the Airport Authority (AA) said HKIA also handled 60,000 passengers and 10,375 flights, marking year-on-year increases of 89.0% and 9.9%, respectively.

"The surge in cargo volume last month was mainly attributed to double-digit growth in imports," the Airport Authority said.

"Despite a decline in transshipments due to a shortage of belly capacity on passenger flights, overall cargo throughput saw an increase during the month, most significantly in traffic to and from Southeast Asia and India."

Passenger traffic in April remained significantly below the pre-pandemic level in 2019. The year-on-year surge recorded was mainly due to the low base for comparison.

For the first four months of the year, HKIA handled 1.5 million tonnes during the period, representing a 13.6% rise. Passenger volumes totaled 237,000 passengers and 40,865 flights, showing decreases of 97.1% and 43.9%, respectively.

On a 12-month rolling basis, cargo throughput at the cargo hub recorded 4.6 million tonnes, an increase of 0.3% year on year.

In March, Hong Kong saw its cargo throughput increase 4.9% year-on-year to 397,000 tonnes. This is also up from the 310,000 tonnes seen in February.

The Airport Authority said in March that the volume increase is also due to "double-digit" growth in imports.