Trade with N. America, S.E. Asia, helps boost HKIA cargo growth by 2.8 percent in Oct.

Hong Kong International Airport (HKIA) released its October traffic results, which show a 2.8 percent increase in its cargo handle to 451,000 tonnes and a growth in transshipments of 7 percent, year-over-year.

The margins are fairly impressive, considering the environmental factors at play, namely an internationally flattening demand for airfreight, as well as the current protectionist trade policies that industry leaders have feared will stunt trans-Pacific trade, which is a major contributor to the hub’s traffic.

HKIA even cited growth to and from North America as one of the two major driving regions of growth during October – along with Southeast Asia.

Looking at 2018 so far as a whole, HKIA has handled 4.2 million tonnes of cargo and airmail, which is a year-over-year increase of 2.6 percent.

Last year, the 20-year-old airport saw 13 new airlines launch services there, including Air Seoul, Hong Kong Air Cargo Carrier, Virgin Australia, Air Japan and CargoLogicAir, and began flights to 17 new destinations.