Hong Kong International Airport (HKIA) — one of the world's busiest cargo hubs — saw cargo volumes drop in January due to flight reductions from the hub at the start of the year.

This comes as the Hong Kong government also that time announced tighter quarantine measures for air cargo crew.

In a statement, the Airport Authority Hong Kong (AAHK) reported cargo throughput of 391,000 tonnes, representing a year-on-year decrease of 4.7%. The hub also handled 71,000 passengers during the month.

Freighter services up in Hong Kong

Nonetheless, it said flight movements saw year-on-year growth of 5.5% to 12,010, with freighter movements increasing by 14.1% to 7,165 from the 6,278 recorded in the same month last year.

"Cargo throughput declined due to flight reductions amid the worldwide emergence of the Omicron variant of Covid-19," the major cargo hub said, adding that transshipments were affected most significantly, declining by double digits year on year, although exports saw 4.2% growth compared to January 2021.

HKIA saw overall cargo to and from North America experienced the most significant decrease during the month.

Meanwhile, passenger volume remained significantly lower than the pre-pandemic level recorded in 2019 which the airport said was due to tightened entry restrictions which led to a decline in transfer/ transit passengers in January 2022 compared to the same month last year, while departure passengers to Southeast Asia and arrival passengers from the

On a 12-month rolling basis, cargo throughput and flight movements rose by 10.8% and 4.8% to 5.0 million and 145,450, respectively, HKIA added.

Last year, HKIA saw "resilient cargo performance" despite the ongoing challenges brought by the pandemic recording an increase of 12.5% year on year to 5 million tonnes, exceeding the 4.8 million tonnes recorded in 2019, the year before the outbreak of Covid-19.