HKIA reports December retail record

John Rimmer

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Hong Kong International airport recorded passenger traffic of 42m in fiscal 2005/6, helping to drive a record final month for retail in 2005

Hong Kong International airport (HKIA) has reported a record month for retail revenues in December, posting a 13.4% year-on-year increase in commercial revenues during the month. The increase has exceeded traffic growth, which reached 10.4% in December.

The airport said that sales of liquor, tobacco, beauty products and general merchandise had increased by 22.5% against December 2004, while revenue from luxury brand boutiques was up by 16.4%. Total sales in HKIA's SkyMart reached close to $100m.

According to the airport, passenger traffic at HKIA during fiscal 2005/6 will reach about 42m, an increase on 3.1m on the previous year. Airport Authority Hong Kong commercial director Hans Bakker said: "Driven by mainland Chinese and Taiwanese visitors as well as growth in Asian customers in general, passenger traffic is forecast to grow at 5.8% each year from fiscal 2006/7 onwards." A yearly increase of 17% in mainland Chinese traffic at HKIA is predicted, while Taiwanese traffic is forecast to grow by 15% annually.

Among new airlines to use HKIA this year are Ocean Airlines, Thai Sky, Shanghai Airlines, Hong Kong Express and Shenzhen Airlines. The hub serves a total of 80 airlines and 146 destinations.