London Daily

Focus on the big picture.
Wednesday, Oct 01, 2025

Hong Kong airport passengers under 9 million for first time since 1985 amid Covid-19

Hong Kong airport passengers under 9 million for first time since 1985 amid Covid-19

More than 90 per cent of the estimated 8.8 million came in the first three months of the year, before the city effectively sealed its borders.

Fewer than 9 million passengers passed through Hong Kong International Airport last year, the lowest level since 1985, new data is expected to show this week, reflecting nearly a full year of Covid-19’s devastating impact on air travel.

Hopes of a near-term recovery also appear bleak, according to the International Air Transport Association, which on Tuesday lashed out at the city’s pandemic measures, in particular the Christmas Eve decision to raise quarantine from 14 to 21 days.

“Twenty-one days of quarantine is a very solid blocking point for an air traffic recovery. Everybody will be totally deterred from travel,” Alexandre de Juniac, director general and CEO of the global airline body, said at a media briefing.


Cathay Pacific airplanes sit grounded at Hong Kong International Airport.


The criticism dovetailed with new IATA data showing advanced flight bookings had weakened towards the end of last year, despite the roll-out of vaccines.

Annual passenger figures due to be released by the Airport Authority this week are expected to show an approximate 89 per cent drop in the number of people travelling in, out and through Hong Kong International Airport (HKIA).

Some 93 per cent of the estimated 8.8 million arrivals came in the first three months of 2020, before borders were effectively sealed off from visitors in March.

Traditionally one of Asia’s busiest airport hubs, HKIA welcomed 71.5 million travellers the year prior.

But 2020’s totals are much closer to 1985’s, when just 8.63 million people travelled via old Kai Tak Airport, according to Census and Statistics Department data.

Through November, HKIA had welcomed 8.72 million guests, while another 58,433 people travelled in and out of the airport in December, according to separate immigration data. Transit passenger flights typically made up just a third of all traffic during the pandemic.

The Post has contacted the Airport Authority Hong Kong, which runs HKIA, for comment.

During the worst of the pandemic, the city’s flag carrier, Cathay Pacific Airways, saw daily passenger volumes plummet 99 per cent, down from an average 100,000.


International Air Transport Association CEO Alexandre de Juniac criticised Hong Kong’s quarantine requirements on Tuesday.


The struggling airline was saved by a government-led HK$39 billion bailout, but it was not enough to keep it from shuttering regional carrier Cathay Dragon and cutting 5,900 jobs in a major reset.

Global rivals also fared poorly, though the damage was not as severe as in Hong Kong. London Heathrow, the first of the major airports to report annual figures for last year, revealed passenger numbers fell 72.7 per cent to 22.1 million.

Nearby Guangzhou Baiyun Airport ended the year having handled 43.8 million passengers, a drop of two-fifths, but was still on course to be the busiest airport in the world for 2020, aided by its biggest operator, China Southern Airlines, mainland China’s largest carrier.

The relative strength of those numbers reflect the near complete recovery of the Chinese domestic air travel market, as mainland China recovered from the coronavirus after sealing its borders.


Advanced bookings for next month and March, meanwhile, were down four-fifths year on year, the airline body said on Wednesday.

IATA chief economist Brian Pearce noted “modest improvements” in bookings globally in the weeks after news of vaccines emerged. But from the end of December into early January “we have seen quite a sharp drop in bookings which means that the immediate outlook looks pretty challenging,” he said.

Pearce added: “While the financial markets say we can see light at the end of the tunnel, it’s some way away and the situation is likely to get worse first.”

Globally, the impact of Covid-19 shaved off 21 years of global passenger traffic growth, back to levels not seen since 1999, according to a report released at the end of last year by aviation data firm Cirium.

Cirium CEO Jeremy Bowen said: “This severe setback shows the true extent of the challenge faced by the struggling aviation sector as it has sought to reset itself in the post-Covid-19 era.”

Newsletter

Related Articles

0:00
0:00
Close
Trump Administration Launches “TrumpRx” Plan to Enable Direct Drug Sales at Deep Discounts
Trump Announces Intention to Impose 100 Percent Tariff on Foreign-Made Films
Altman Says GPT-5 Already Outpaces Him, Warns AI Could Automate 40% of Work
Singapore and Hong Kong Vie to Dominate Asia’s Rising Gold Trade
Trump Organization Teams with Saudi Developer on $1 Billion Trump Plaza in Jeddah
Manhattan Sees Surge in Office-to-Housing Conversions, Highest Since 2008
Switzerland and U.S. Issue Joint Assurance Against Currency Manipulation
Electronic Arts to Be Taken Private in Historic $55 Billion Buyout
Thomas Jacob Sanford Named as Suspect in Deadly Michigan Church Shooting and Arson
Russian Research Vessel 'Yantar' Tracked Mapping Europe’s Subsea Cables, Raising Security Alarms
New York Man Arrested After On-Air Confession to 2017 Parents’ Murders
U.S. Defense Chief Orders Sudden Summit of Hundreds of Generals and Admirals
Global Cruise Industry Posts Dramatic Comeback with 34.6 Million Passengers in 2024
Trump Claims FBI Planted 274 Agents at Capitol Riot, Citing Unverified Reports
India: Internet Suspended in Bareilly Amid Communal Clashes Between Muslims and Hindus
Supreme Court Extends Freeze on Nearly $5 Billion in U.S. Foreign Aid at Trump’s Request
Archaeologists Recover Statues and Temples from 2,000-Year-Old Sunken City off Alexandria
China Deploys 2,000 Workers to Spain to Build Major EV Battery Factory, Raising European Dependence
Speed Takes Over: How Drive-Through Coffee Chains Are Rewriting U.S. Coffee Culture
U.S. Demands Brussels Scrutinize Digital Rules to Prevent Bias Against American Tech
Ringo Starr Champions Enduring Beatles Legacy While Debuting Las Vegas Art Show
Private Equity’s Fundraising Surge Triggers Concern of European Market Shake-Out
Colombian President Petro Vows to Mobilize Volunteers for Gaza and Joins List of Fighters
FBI Removes Agents Who Kneeled at 2020 Protest, Citing Breach of Professional Conduct
Trump Alleges ‘Triple Sabotage’ at United Nations After Escalator and Teleprompter Failures
Shock in France: 5 Years in Prison for Former President Nicolas Sarkozy
Tokyo’s Jimbōchō Named World’s Coolest Neighbourhood for 2025
European Officials Fear Trump May Shift Blame for Ukraine War onto EU
BNP Paribas Abandons Ban on 'Controversial Weapons' Financing Amid Europe’s Defence Push
Typhoon Ragasa Leaves Trail of Destruction Across East Asia Before Making Landfall in China
The Personality Rights Challenge in India’s AI Era
Big Banks Rebuild in Hong Kong as Deal Volume Surges
Italy Considers Freezing Retirement Age at 67 to Avert Scheduled Hike
Italian City to Impose Tax on Visiting Dogs Starting in 2026
Arnault Denounces Proposed Wealth Tax as Threat to French Economy
Study Finds No Safe Level of Alcohol for Dementia Risk
Denmark Investigates Drone Incursion, Does Not Rule Out Russian Involvement
Lilly CEO Warns UK Is ‘Worst Country in Europe’ for Drug Prices, Pulls Back Investment
Nigel Farage Emerges as Central Force in British Politics with Reform UK Surge
Disney Reinstates ‘Jimmy Kimmel Live!’ after Six-Day Suspension over Charlie Kirk Comments
U.S. Prosecutors Move to Break Up Google’s Advertising Monopoly
Nvidia Pledges Up to $100 Billion Investment in OpenAI to Power Massive AI Data Center Build-Out
U.S. Signals ‘Large and Forceful’ Support for Argentina Amid Market Turmoil
Nvidia and Abu Dhabi’s TII Launch First AI-&-Robotics Lab in the Middle East
Vietnam Faces Up to $25 Billion Export Loss as U.S. Tariffs Bite
Europe Signals Stronger Support for Taiwan at Major Taipei Defence Show
Indonesia Court Upholds Military Law Amid Concerns Over Expanded Civilian Role
Larry Ellison, Michael Dell and Rupert Murdoch Join Trump-Backed Bid to Take Over TikTok
Trump and Musk Reunite Publicly for First Time Since Fallout at Kirk Memorial
Vietnam Closes 86 Million Untouched Bank Accounts Over Biometric ID Rules
×