(Xinhua)
Updated: 2007-08-20 08:55

HONG KONG -- Traffic at the Hong Kong International Airport in July grew steadily by over 6 percent year-on-year, the airport authority said Sunday.

Passenger volume in the month surged to 4.39 million, up 6.6 percent from July 2006, and air traffic movements added 6 percent at 25,380. Cargo volume went up 7.4 percent to 315,000 tons, driven by strong demand for exports and increase in transshipments.

Summer is traditionally the peak season for air travel in Hong Kong and this July saw a particularly strong visitor traffic from Europe and Southeast Asia at the airport, one of the world's busiest air traffic centers, the airport authority said in a report.

Stanley Hui, chief executive officer of Airport Authority Hong Kong, said the growth reaffirmed the airport's status as one of the world's busiest aviation hubs.

In the 12 months ending on July 31, the airport handled over 46 million passengers and 3.63 million tons of cargo, a year-on-year increase of 7.3 percent and 3.4 percent. Air traffic movements grew 4.2 percent to 288,115, the report said.

Hong Kong International Airport was recently named the world's best airport in the annual Skytrax survey, the sixth time it ranked first in the survey in seven years.