Hong Kong International Airport’s (HKIA) cargo volumes grew marginally by 0.1 per cent in 2015 to just under 4.4 million tonnes with slow growth expected to continue into 2016.

The airport saw volumes increase by one per cent in December to 391,000 tonnes with unloaded cargo rising by 1.1 per cent to 141,000 tonnes and loaded up 0.9 per cent to 248,000 tonnes. It says trade with Europe and Australasia grew most significantly compared to other regions.

HKIA’s operator, Airport Authority Hong Kong chief executive officer, Fred Lam says: “During the year, the airport welcomed six airlines, namely Jetstar Japan, Scandinavian Airlines, Myanmar National Airlines, Etihad Airways and Sky Lease Cargo, which extended our flight network to 190 destinations around the world.”

For 2016, Lam says: “Mild growth in cargo volumes is expected due to global economic uncertainties. Most challenging of all, we expect air traffic movement to reach its annual maximum capacity of 420,000 soon.”