Hong Kong continued to report lower air cargo volumes in April as persisting global economic uncertainties continued to weigh on demand.

Hong Kong Interational Airport — the world's busiest air cargo hub — saw throughput frop 7.7% year-on-year in April to 347,000 tonnes.

This is also lower than the 372,000 tonnes recorded in March — which was up 5.8% compared to the same period in 2022.

Meanwhile, compared to the same month last year, the Airport Authority of Hong Kong (AAHK) said flight movements more than doubled to 21,545.

"Cargo volume remained impacted by global economic uncertainties. Overall cargo volume declined in April, with import cargo decreasing by 24% compared to the same month last year," AAHK said in a statement.

"Traffic to and from key trading regions in Southeast Asia and Taiwan saw the most significant decreases during the month," it added.

Over the first four months of the year, the airport handled 1.3 million tonnes of cargo, down 6.7% year-on-year, while flight movements increased by 83.1% year-on-year to 74,200.

On a 12-month rolling basis, AAHK said flight movements rose 19.3% to 172,395.

Cargo throughput saw a decrease of 16.4% to 4.1 million tonnes.

Meanwhile, Hong Kong International Airport continues to see recovery in passenger numbers.

AAHK said air traffic figures for April 2023 showed the airport handling 3.1 million passengers, marking a year-on-year surge of around 24 times.

The statement noted that all passenger segments experienced significant growth in April, especially Hong Kong residents. Traffic to and from Southeast Asia, Mainland China, and Japan recorded the most significant increases.

"Following the resumption of normal travel, passenger volume and flight at HKIA have been picking up gradually. In April, on average the airport handled over 100,000 passengers and 700 flights per day respectively, representing 50% and 60% of pre-pandemic levels," said Steven Yiu, executive director, Airport Operations of AAHK.

To meet rising demand, airlines operating at HKIA have been expanding their networks by adding more destinations, such as those in Japan, South Korea and Thailand, and increasing the frequency of services.

New flight routes have been also launched, including a direct service between Urumqi and Hong Kong.