ENG-2006 — Page 329

Transport 273

council also organised a logistics forum in Guangzhou in December to promote Hong Kong's latest IT services in supply chain management to logistics players on the Mainland.

Civil Aviation

Hong Kong is a major international and regional aviation centre. The Hong Kong International Airport (HKIA) is one of the busiest airports in the world. At the end of 2006, there were 85 airlines providing about 5 400 weekly services between Hong Kong and more than 150 cities worldwide.

Air Traffic in 2006

It was another record-breaking year for HKIA. A record high of 44.45 million passengers, including 1.16 million transit passengers, passed through the airport during the year, representing an increase of 9.1 per cent over 2005. Aircraft movements increased by 6.5 per cent to a total of 280 508. Air cargo throughput also set new records: the airport handled 3.58 million tonnes of air cargo, representing an increase of 5.2 per cent over 2005. The corresponding value also increased by 11.3 per cent to $1,745 billion. In 2006, HKIA ranked number one and number five worldwide in terms of international cargo and international passenger throughput respectively. The ranking was based on figures from the Airports Council International (ACI).

Air transport continues to play an important role in Hong Kong's external trade. Goods carried by air accounted for 38.1 per cent, 37.5 per cent and 30.3 per cent in value terms of Hong Kong's total imports, exports and re-exports respectively in 2006.

Home Market Expansion

Improving connections with the Pear River Delta (PRD) region through the development of a range of transport links remains a major strategy of the Airport Authority which plans to extend the airport's catchment area to cover the entire PRD region which has a population of over 40 million. During the year, about 1.7 million transit passengers used the Airport Authority's cross-boundary ferry service between the airport and five PRD ports. Passengers on these ferries do not have to go through customs and immigration procedures in Hong Kong before they board international flights, which results in significant savings in total travel time. The Airport Authority further enhanced the service by providing an upstream check-in service at Shekou Port. Transit passengers can now check in their luggage at Shekou and travel baggage-free to the airport for their onward journey to overseas destinations.

The cross-boundary coach services are another major transport link between HKIA and 40 destinations in the PRD. In 2006, about 1.5 million passengers travelled between the airport and the PRD using the 280 daily coach services.

HKIA continued to work closely with airports on the Mainland to explore cooperation opportunities that would improve the integration of passenger and air cargo flows in the region. During the year, the Airport Authority formed a joint