Chek Lap Kok breaks the 1,000 flights barrier
It's up, up and away when it comes to the number of flights operating at Hong Kong International Airport.
Chek Lap Kok handled 1,003 flights on Friday, the first 1,000-plus movements achieved in a single day, setting a new daily record, a spokesman for the Civil Aviation Department said.
The 1,003 flight movements broke the previous single-day record of 983 flight movements, which was only set last month, and it exceeded the daily average of 891 movements by 12.57 per cent.
This is still less than the likes of Heathrow where 1,318 flights come in and out of the airport on a daily basis, or at JFK in New York which deals with 1,136 flights a day. In Asia, only Beijing Capital International Airport can compete in terms of flight numbers with 1,000 daily.
The increase in flight movements was also attributed to the demand during the Easter holidays. Most of the extra flights operated by airlines were to destinations in northeast Asia and Southeast Asia. Taipei was the most popular destination, followed by Bangkok and Kota Kinabalu.
As well as these impressive numbers, 521 flight movements also operated through the Hong Kong Flight Information Region on that day, making a total of 1,524 flights handled by the Civil Aviation Department within the 24-hour period.
Buoyed by the robust economy in the region, flight movements are increasing. Between January and March this year, 80,242 aircraft movements were handled at Hong Kong International Airport and 44,840 aircraft movements operated through the Hong Kong Flight Information Region. That represents respective increases of 14 per cent and 15.2 per cent compared with the same period last year.
