A total of 3.8 million passengers traveled through Hong Kong International Airport in April, posting an all-time-high record for monthly passenger throughput.

April's passenger traffic also represents a growth of 14.1 percent over the same period last year, the Hong Kong Airport Authority announced on Sunday.

More holiday and business travels contributed to the surge of passenger traffic through the airport, which witnesses more than 500 flights taking off and landing in each day.

Daily passenger traffic reached a record high of 154,000 on April 14, the first day of the four-day Easter break, according to a statement of the airport authority.

The Guangzhou Trade Fair falling in April also boosted the number of business travelers passing through the airport.

Boosted by the busy traffic in April, aircraft movements grew 10.6 percent to 23,580 as compared to the same month last year, setting a new daily record of 870 on April 14, 2006.

Cargo throughput continued to grow with the total tonnage up 3 percent to 294,000.

The airport authority believes the passenger traffic will continue to grow, due to steady increase in the number of visitors particularly from Southeast Asia and Australasia.

For the past 12 months ended April 2006, Hong Kong International Airport handled 42.1 million passengers, a rise of 9.2 percent over the previous year. Cargo throughput and aircraft movements totaled 3.48 million tons and 272,400, respectively, up 9.4 percent and 11.6 percent year-on-year.

The Airports Council International (ACI), the international association for the world's airports, expects world air passenger and freight traffic to grow at an annual rate of four percent and five percent, respectively.  

(Xinhua News Agency May 15, 2006)