Hong Kong airport world’s best again

Airport Authority Hong Kong Chief Executive Officer Stanley Hui receives the “World's Best Airport” Award (by size of airport – over 40 million passengers) from Shao Daojie, deputy director general of the Department of Airport, Civil Aviation Administration of China.

For the fourth consecutive year, Airports Council International has named Hong Kong International Airport (HKIA) “World’s Best Airport” among facilities serving 40 million-plus passengers per year. HKIA also took third place in both regional (Asia Pacific) and overall categories.

Airport Authority Hong Kong Chief Executive Officer Stanley Hui expressed his gratitude to the traveling public for their continuous support of HKIA. He also dedicated the honor to the 60,000-strong airport community. “We couldn't have achieved this without the concerted effort of all the staff in the airport community who provide passengers with the best-possible service,” said Mr. Hui. “It is gratifying to see that our overall score in the Airport Service Quality (ASQ) survey has been constantly on the rise over the past few years.”

In the 2009 ASQ survey, HKIA achieved a record high of 4.76 out of 5, indicating more than 98% of the survey respondents rated the airport as excellent or very good. Key areas that were particularly commended by passengers include terminal cleanliness, airport ambience, free Internet connection, availability and cleanliness of washrooms and comfort of gates and waiting areas.

Mr. Hui pledged that HKIA will continue improving its service and facilities to better serve passengers and other airport users.

The ASQ survey, which interviewed more than 275,000 passengers at 118 airports in 2009, is a leading industry program that allows airports to measure their improvements and benchmark their customer service year on year. Passengers are interviewed at each airport participating in the ASQ program to indicate their levels of satisfaction on more than 30 service parameters, including airport ambience, staff courtesy, immigration and check-in efficiency, security and more.

Cirque du Soleil opens production workshop

On May 12, Montreal-based Cirque du Soleil announced the opening of its first production workshop in Hong Kong.

From a group of 20 street performers in 1984, Cirque du Soleil has grown to employ 5,000 people, including more than 1,200 artists, from approximately 50 countries.
Cirque du Soleil Director of Props and Costumes for Asia Gaebriella Wilkins said the new workshop is a regional office, where the company will produce costumes, accessories and hats for different shows around the world.

“The excellent pool of talent in the creative industry and a variety of professional service providers in Hong Kong are key reasons why we invested in the city,” said Ms. Wilkins. “We will work with local suppliers to localize our collection of fabrics, with printing and dyeing companies to transform fabrics, and with local manufacturers to develop our costume-, accessory- and hat-manufacturing capabilities to the highest standards.”

Associate Director-General of Investment Promotion at Invest Hong Kong Andrew Davis extended his warmest welcome to Cirque du Soleil.

“I am glad to learn that Cirque du Soleil finds our local talent helpful in the course of its business development in Hong Kong, mainland China and the Asian region as a whole,” said Mr. Davis. “As in many other leading economies in the world, the Hong Kong government is committed to speeding up the development of our local creative industries. This is why creative industry has been identified as one of the six new economic areas that Hong Kong is keen to drive.

“The presence of Cirque du Soleil in our city not only enriches the portfolio of our creative industry, but also provides an opportunity to empower our young people with the latest knowledge and skills in the creative field.”

Cargo traffic on a 7-month growth

Air cargo tonnage at Hong Kong International Airport (HKIA) registered positive growth for the seventh consecutive month, surging 38% year-on-year in April to 354,000 metric tons. Air-traffic movements increased 2.7% year-on-year to 24,725. Passenger volume fell 1.5% to approximately 4.2 million.

The strong cargo growth is mainly attributed to the continuing recoveries in HKIA’s key export markets, in particular North America and Europe. Exports recorded an increase of 57%, while imports and transhipments showed year-on-year growth of 30% and 10%, respectively.

Hong Kong resident travel registered a year-on-year decline of 4%, and transfer/transit traffic dropped 9%. However, visitor numbers increased 8%, which was driven by traffic to and from Southeast Asia and North Asia.

Of the passenger market, Airport Authority Hong Kong Chief Executive Officer Stanley Hui said, “The exceptionally strong Easter holiday traffic of last year had already created a high base for comparison. Then, Iceland’s volcanic eruption and the Black Outbound Travel Alert for Thailand (Bangkok) this year further impacted travel. As a result, there predictably was a slight decline in passenger throughput last month.
“However,” he noted, “growth momentum for passenger traffic remains strong, and I am confident we will continue to see an improvement in these numbers over the coming months.”

From January to April 2010, HKIA handled 16.2 million passengers, 1.3 million metric tons of cargo and 94,825 aircraft movements, representing year-on-year growth of 4.5%, 35.1% and 1.6%, respectively.

Air passenger volume drops

Combined Cathay Pacific and Dragonair traffic figures for April show a decline in the number of passengers carried, largely due to the disruptions caused by the Icelandic volcano ash cloud. Cargo and mail tonnage, however, showed a considerable increase over 2009’s low base of comparison.

In April, Cathay Pacific and Dragonair carried a total of 2,169,475 passengers, down 3.6% year-on-year. April’s passenger load factor was 83.9%, an increase of 1.3 percentage points, while capacity for the month, measured in available seat kilometers (ASKs), fell 5.8%. In the first four months of the year, the number of passengers carried increased 3.7% compared to an ASK decline of 2.7%.

The two airlines carried a total of 152,808 metric tons of cargo and mail during the month, up 24.1% from April 2009. The cargo and mail load factor was 79.3%, an increase of 13.6 percentage points, while capacity, measured in available cargo/mail metric ton kilometers, was up 6.4%. For the year to date, tonnage has risen 24.1%; capacity has increased 1.1%.